Rugby argument with loose timing.
Flats and Shanks treats rugby as something argued over, laughed through, and dragged back into real life. Six Nations form, Welsh rugby trouble, French brilliance, TV gripes, gym errands, and dinner stories all share the same table.
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Flats and Shanks is a rugby show with its elbows on the table. It does not separate analysis from ordinary life, which is exactly why the analysis feels alive. One stretch may start with Six Nations anxiety, Welsh rugby gloom, and the awkward question of whether the regional structure can afford itself. A few minutes later, the same conversation is in the kitchen, moving an oversized appliance through a window on a scaffold and somehow still sounding adjacent to the WRU. That looseness is the format, not a failure of it. The show works because rugby is treated as a lived environment: clubs, dinners, commentary boxes, old teammates, family logistics, stadium songs, gym chats, and the emotional weather around a national side all matter. It can be very funny. It can also be sharp. Wales finishing without a win, England scraping position, Italy complicating the logic, and France topping the positive stats while leaking points all get weighed with a mix of irritation, admiration, and practical memory. The speakers like a tangent, but the tangents usually sharpen the rugby rather than bury it. TV talk becomes a test of plausibility. A dinner with Matt Hampson and Jim Hamilton becomes a way into rugby culture and friendship. Chat about Swing Low and Fields of Athenry becomes a question about what stadium songs mean to the players hearing them. The tone is blunt but warm. It prefers a clear view over a polished one. There is room for mock disagreement, quick correction, and the odd ridiculous image, yet the show keeps finding its way back to systems, pressure, form, and why some teams feel healthier than others. For Six Nations followers who want analysis with scuffed shoes and loose rhythm, Flats and Shanks has a very specific charm.
Made for: For rugby fans who follow the Six Nations closely but prefer conversation with jokes, digressions, and lived memory over studio polish. It especially suits listeners interested in England, Wales, France, Italy, and the culture around the game.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is the way serious rugby judgment keeps arriving through everyday stories. Domestic mishaps, TV gripes, dinners, songs, and old rugby relationships all become part of the analysis.
David Flatman and Tom Shanklin are two former professional rugby players. Having been flatmates while playing at Saracens, their friendship endured, and now they’d like to share with you bunches of views and thoughts and jokes. Please, do let the chaps know if you like it (or don’t!). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Flats and Shanks pairs sharp rugby arguments with familiar banter, making results, tactics and Welsh rugby's structural pressures easy to follow.
Flats and Shanks turns rugby analysis into a loose, quick-witted conversation between David Flatman and Tom Shanklin. The pair move comfortably from Six Nations results and tactical arguments to the financial strain on Welsh rugby, including the cost of sustaining four teams and…
The Six Nations can ruin your mood; Danny Dyer's swearing might rescue it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose, funny rugby chat that turns household memories and telly talk toward the pull of Fields of Athenry.
This episode finds its shape in the easy drift between memory, telly, and rugby feeling. A cough, an old electricity key, and stories of living with George Shooter at Saris set the tone: domestic, funny, and relaxed, with duvet-and-ice-cream detail giving the chat a properly…
A bruising Six Nations gives Flats and Shanks plenty to argue about.
Flats and Shanks turns a bruising Six Nations into a lively look at rugby's wider disorder, using Wales' recent winless run, England finishing above them, and France's title run as fuel for a conversation that sits somewhere between scoreboard autopsy and pub argument.
A boisterous rugby-table conversation where affection and outrageous stories share the same pint.
Flats and Shanks turns a rugby dinner into a rowdy, affectionate lap of Matt Hampson's annual event, taking in Hambo's marathon setup, Jim Hamilton, a skin-graft story, burgers, social media, and the strange life of rugby sayings.
Six Nations unease, Welsh rugby frustration, and one wildly over-engineered barbecue manoeuvre.
Flats and Shanks catches Six Nations anticipation in a recognisably awkward place: the tournament is close, but the usual butterflies have not quite arrived, with Welsh rugby's negative press weighing on the mood.
A serious, conversational case that Wales's four-team problem is really a funding problem.
The episode takes a clear, sober look at whether Wales can genuinely sustain four teams, and it is careful not to flatten the issue into a simple question of player supply.
A loose, funny episode about missed podcasting, family viewing, and sharply divided reactions to a film.
The episode leans into the loose disorder that gives the show its charm: an apology for time away, a quick check that listeners are still there, and a few jokes about being bad podders.
A near-miss documentary prompts a loose, thoughtful discussion of rugby access, memorable central figures and international predictions.
Rugby's appetite for behind-the-scenes television frames a lively conversation about access, storytelling and the production that nearly happened.
Former rugby players David Flatman and Tom Shanklin host a freewheeling conversation on their podcast.
Former rugby players David Flatman and Tom Shanklin open with chaotic technical difficulties before sharing anecdotes about Danny Dyer and a botched family trip to Alton Towers.
The hosts discuss listener reviews and debate whether to focus more on rugby content in their podcast.
The hosts of the Flats and Shanks Guinness Six Nations podcast chat about their locations and a humorous story about ordering custom trousers.
Flats and Shanks return for a new season with a rambling chat about fudge, breakfast, and a funny number plate.
Flats and Shanks recap the Lions Tour in Sydney, introduce guest Jamie Garland, and discuss his background in broadcasting and X Factor.
Two podcast hosts engage in playful banter about who says goodbye last, a memory of Right Said Fred, and a phone call interruption.
Flats tells Shanks he is driving to Devon for one night alone in his Mazda MX-5 to fix curtain rails and read, and the pair compare DIY jobs, including swapping a 400 kg Big Green Egg-style built-in grill with Matt James.
Flats and Shanks Season 9 - Episode 16 opens with coughing jokes, electricity keys, and green phone cards before moving into phones, shopping, and TV.
Flats and Shanks turns the Six Nations into a debate about whether England, Wales, France, and Italy made rugby better by attacking harder, with scorelines like 54-10, 50-40, and 48-7 driving the point.
Flats and Shanks Season 9 - Episode 14 opens with Matt Hampson's annual rugby dinner at Battersea Evolution, where 1,500 guests, a racing wheelchair, and Jim Hamilton’s stage presence drive the banter.
Two rugby podcast hosts banter about a funny Instagram post and their weekend before discussing upcoming rugby matches.
David and co-host discuss the Six Nations rugby podcast, with a humorous tangent about the TV series Lioness and a Kmart Mother's Day ad.
Flat and Shanks opens with a Six Nations preview that turns on England’s team selection, Wales’s limitations, and Ireland’s injury and suspension issues.
David Flatman and Tom Shanklin spend much of Flats and Shanks Season 9 - Episode 9 on Welsh rugby, with Y11's Cardiff bid, Ospreys ownership, and the fallout for staff and players all raised.