Challenge Cup : Pau a tenu 50 minutes à Johannesburg

I'm at the bar pint in hand. An unseasonably hot day over here in Belfast. The stormers game is 17.15 our time.

They’ll be fine but wouldn't be the worse thing for them if the dragons put it up to them for 60 mins.

Enjoy it, chief.

Warrior to the end. The gardening can wait. One last push, son!

I’m sure the Leinster players you worked with for years really appreciate you sticking a knife in their backs in such a biased manner.

So you should be wondering what needs to be added to make that happen. Nobody would argue with picks like Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, JVDF, JGP, Ringrose, Keenan and Lowe.

Outside those it is conjecture, and sadly you’re too thick to see it.

For example, Kelleher may be a better edge forward than George. Is he a better lineout thrower, or a better leader to have on the pitch at the finish of games? Absolutely not. James Ryan has been pretty quiet for the better part of a couple of seasons now.

Jack Conan is a good number 8 among a lot of other good forwards in Dublin, Aaron Wainwright and Jac Morgan have been keeping the Welsh pack afloat ever since the last RWC.

You’d need a much broader rugby mind and upbringing to know it.

Of course not, as only an idiot would drop an entire cohort of players due to one lost game now, wouldn’t they?

And here is the root of your problem in a nutshell. They cannot be ‘dropped’ when they were never in the squad in the first place.

You are the ‘ass’ in ‘assume’.

Leinster players do not pre-select themselves and they are not automatic choices. There, that’s your rugby ABC for today. Rest of the alphabet to follow when you grow up.

Earl played 10 minutes or so at 12 vs Wales because England ran out of backs subs, and Pollock hasn’t played there at all at top level. It’s more than just a pinch to say he and Earl can cover 12 and wing, it’s madness.