Champions Cup: Henry Slade and Damian Penaud rack up some serious stats

They're a great team to watch. With LI gone, them or Saints are the easiest to follow for me.

I think Smithy was lucky in that he came in on a 'bounceback' after a string of poor results... but what he did transformed the Ferns, and has not really been developed since [not surprisingly], wgile England have kicked on again under John Mitchell.

I think most would agree that geetting more usable ball out of scrums and less mauling out of lineouts would be good things for the game as a whole.

Little birds tell me Marcus wanted to stay in London - he could have easily landed a big contract in France too. But yes he'd fit the Bristol attitude down to the ground.

Atm Borhters is giving him the spot without giving him everyone around him he needs to be Marcus unleashed!

Yes you get the feeling England are getting dragged along by the hair by events and styles in the Prem. Perhaps Tigers [Borthers old club] losing to Bear so heavily at home will help move things along in an attacking direction more quickly? And ofc with Felix Jones absence there could be more stress on keeping the ball whe you have it.

I agree that Marcus is a 10 you need to go 'all in' on. You cannot hedge your bets as you might be able to do with say George Ford. They need to give him players he can interact with - for example they didn't give him the right #9 in November.

We all know his real number 1 desire though is a return to form for David Havili, or at the very least discovering a way to sneak him back into the squad for a second year running.

A bonus article before Xmas!!❣️