Bordeaux-Bègles : Penaud malade, dix changements pour accueillir Bayonne

Yes, Sititi looks the business. All the basics down, a sensible head on him and a bit of X factor. Very mature for a 22 yr old. Roigard to get back and going too. That will get them ticking. Glad to see Oz step it up too. The ABs best win yet under razors although it felt a little closer than a 20 PT game.

It will just be club rugby for the Ireland players until the Nov series. The test players will get rested a bit so they'll just be match fit and no more.

I think the England game will be big for the ABs. Win, lose or draw it will soften them up a little (hopefully) then they've us on a six day turn around. Tough going but they're top end athletes all the same.

Weather is typically shite. Evening kick off on the Friday. Probably chilly and a bit frosty. Doesn't really advantage either team I suppose.

Hope both squads stay fully fit and we get the best of both of them. Theres no silverware at stake and most just consider them high tempo friendlies, but I love the Nov series. NH V SH. That simple. Recently been a super standard of rugby.

Enjoy the build up fella, and win or lose, let your hangover be a memorable one! Go easy.

With their Mums.

(This is interchangeable between South Africa, New Zealand and a number of other countries that are represented in the Scotland squad)

Because it’s a very specific at a specific point in time number. Or do you mean average age?

Because the median age of the Bok team that went to Argentina would be different to the median age that went to Australia. So at what point in time did you get this median age - or where is your source?

Manie Libbok went to the WC with 8 caps if I recall Correctly. He’s already on 16. SFM is already on 8. Damian is well on his way and so is Pollard. Siya is one player I have advocated for. Jordan Hendrikse is my latest.

SFM and Manie will easily amass 30 tests each. Easily.

Apart from Japan and possibly Italy, if there any unforeseen concerns with the team Scott Robertson won't be giving many, if any "rookies" a call up to play England, Ireland and France.

Go the All Blacks...EOYT of Asia and Europe... and they're not going over there be play tiddlywinks...

"What’s the median age of all the top 5 teams as at 2024?"

Median ages of squads at this year's rugby championship:

Argentina: 26

Australia: 25

New Zealand: 27

South Africa: 29

Median ages of squads at this years six nations:

England: 26

France: 26.5

Ireland: 28

Italy: 25

Scotland: 27

Wales: 25

Age profile and depth are both important. South Africa have good depth. They are a long way behind France but slightly better than England and New Zealand. The problem South Africa will have is that whereas most teams will head into 2027 knowing who their best 33 players are, South Africa will be heading into it just as many of their most important players are seriously dropping off. Sure, Rassie won't have an issue finding 33 good players, but he won't be able to build a long-term plan around a specific 33.

"Since then we have 4 options at 10. Depth. All of those options will be well on or ahead of 30 caps each by 2027."

How many more tests will SA play between now and the RWC? around 35 or 40? So if they give all 4 options equal starts, that'll at most be 10 starts each? If they put 2 fly-halves in the 23 each match (which they won't) then that'll be at most 20 caps each. So if they continue rotating through the 4 options SFM and Hendrikse won't hit 30 caps. Even Libbok might fall short. You've been advocating for Masuku to be brought into the squad as well, which would make it completely impossible to get everyone to 30 caps. Sometime soon Rassie is going to have to narrow down his options; I suspect he'll go with Pollard as 1st choice, SFM as 2nd, and Libbok as 3rd. By the world cup I'd assume SFM will hit 30 caps, but most will be off the bench or at 12 or 15. Libbok will probably also hit 30, but only just. Hendrikse won't be on more than 2, and Masuku won't be capped at all.

Personally, I haven't heard any gossip about it. Sorry.

Selection at hooker looks fine. I'd personally have gone with Langdon ahead of Cowan-Dickie, but I can see the argument for LCD.

I'm surprised there isn't another lock in the squad. Specifically I think Tuima could have been included ahead of someone like Tom Willis, particularly given Tuima can cover 8.

Happy to see Pearson and Fisilau given a shot, but honestly I might not have gone for either of them myself. I'd have been tempted to swap out Pearson for Pepper - or possibly even Pollock - and Fisilau for Mercer. But I appreciate none of these guys are likely to get much gametime this autumn, so its more about where Borthwick sees the squad going over the next few years.

At 9 I'm extremely happy to see JVP brought back in. I was wondering if we might see Will Porter introduced at the expense of Spencer, but I'm not too surprised that Borthwick didn't go there.

In the backs I'm forever perplexed by the positional spread. Beard, Dingwall, Lawrence, Lozowski, and Daly are all outside centres, and Borthwick hasn't picked a single specialist 12. I'd have dropped Lozowski, Beard, and Daly, and brought in Will Butt (or Dan Kelly, or Seb Atkinson). Those droppings would also free up space for Cadan Murley, and potentially another forward.