All Black Caleb Clarke benched for Blues’ blockbuster clash with Reds

My concern - and as illustrated against Leinster, is how the Bristol approach will hold up through the wet and windy winter months when fast, free-flowing, 15-man rugby becomes harder to execute.

Squad depth - again, illustrated by the capitulation to Leinster when McGinty went off, is also something that might see performances drop over the second half of the season.

All that being said, If they can hold firm’ish then you expect them to be in the top 4 come the Spring.

Not my idea of a topic to generate positivity, .... though it should be Nick.

The very reason that this issue unleashes the troglodyte community that forever keeps Rugby Union in the background is the same reason that the coach should come from OS.

How pathetic and narrow minded it is for the 4th ranked football code in the country to be forced to hire an Australian coach.

With the exception of Kiss, local coaches know SFA.

McKenna and Larkham aren't terrible, they just aren't top shelf. They have been moved on by top class outfits after minimal success.

We should be aiming for the very best available if Schmidt moves on.

If the gains made by Schmidt just trickle away, Rugby Union will drop back to being the laughing stock it was under Aussie Eddie, and potentially never recover.

You can't have repeated last chances with a sporting community that is used to excellence in the other sports they follow.

Kepping Schmidt one way or another has to be the only solution. "Coaching Director ", Attack Coach, anything, but keep him.

If he isn't head coach, but still there somehow then the new guy has to the very best available, irrespective of where he comes from.

My gut feel is that Joe Schmidt won't carry on through to the next RWC. He is at the stage, and age, in his life , that a further two years in a very high pressure coaching job would not be a good thing for either himself or his family. The fact that he remains based in Taupo seems a significant pointer, I would have thought. I believe he has a round trip of 12 hrs driving just to get on a plane to Australia.

Amongst the many good things Joe Schmidt has achieved to this point is that the WB's are now a more enticing prospect to coach going forward.

Tbh, the only Australian coach I would see stepping up and developing the WB's further would be Les Kiss. He has far more in his CV than any other Australian. He now has 23 years of coaching Union,starting with a defence role with the Boks, then back to Australia with the Waratahs. Overseas again for nine years in Ireland, which included 5 years as defence coach with the national team, during which he was interim head coach for two games, both wins. His last years in Ireland were with Ulster, even then a team beginning a decline. So that spell was his least successful. Finally the spell with London Irish, where I felt Kiss was doing very well, till the club collapsed financially.

Of the other Australian options, Dan McKellar has a lot to prove post the year with Leicester. Stephen Larkham has not, in my view, yet shown outstanding qualities as a coach. Nether man has anything close to Kiss's experience. Some may see this as being harsh on both men, ignoring good work they have done. But is how I see it.

Looking outside Australia, I would see Vern Cotter as a strong possibility, if interested. His time with Scotland was outstanding. Ronan O'Gara, I would think, might well be another possibility, though he has no international experience. Jake White ? Maybe .

Oh wait, discarded kiwi coaches in Australia have been exactly the same ever since .....

Stockholm Syndrome much ?