Brent Pope is a New Zealand rugby analyst on RTE television, rugby journalist, charity worker, children's book author, founder of Outside in Art Gallery in Dublin Ireland and owner of POPE shirts. He was born, raised and spent his rugby playing career in New Zealand, but has lived and worked in Ireland for most of his broadcasting career. Brent was selected in the original 1987 New Zealand Rugby World Cup training squad, but had to withdraw a week before the tournament began due to a serious elbow injury in the final series of All Black trials. He then came back after injury to be nominated as one of New Zealand's outstanding domestic players of that year. I met Brent a couple of times at different events and each time I have had a very enlightening and deep conversation with him. I was delighted he agreed to do the podcast and we settled on meeting at his house in South Dublin. After talking about the demise of amateur sport and his early life growing up in New Zealand, Brent opened up about the difficulty of living so far from his elderly parents, his struggle with anxiety and his love of "Outside" art.
