Close to perfection: Johann van Graan's favourite game

Happy New Year.

The Leinster changes are interesting for sure and almost certainly the result of scars from the maulings dished out by the French in CC finals. Interesting too though to see how they fare in the business end of the URC taking the Bok teams on at their own game. That certainly wasn’t the m.o. of the kiwi teams when they dominated the Boks, most of the time, in SR. The URC version of your Prem split probably leaves Glasgow sitting in a class of their own then, perhaps with Cardiff for company if they can sustain their level? Even then, Franco Smith has shown the benefit of developing hybrid skills, whichever camp a team is in, with the increase in Glasgows forward power and an impressive maul defence and attack that hadn’t existed before his arrival.

As for Ireland, they are beginning to demonstrate the extent to which they are going to struggle to sustain their position right at the peak of WR, and whilst they aren’t going to fall off any cliffs anytime soon, they ain’t going to be collecting too many grand slams and probably not even clear favourites to lift the 6N this year either. I don’t envy SE having to take the helm at a time of simultaneous transition in game plan and key players through the team, presuming of course that faz follows suit and tucks in behind Leinster…

I really hope Fergus has put himself in a position to show his full ability and game worth to Razor, and you never know, he could be the next person being hunted once Mo'unga returns

Actually, you are? Seriously?

Although Burke readily admits “I am driven by international rugby”, his final destination is still unknown. He could be one day replacing Finn Russell in the navy blue of Scotland, or challenging Marcus Smith for the right to wear a red rose on his chest, or cycling all the way home to the silver fern. It is all ‘Professor Plum in the billiards room with the lead pipe’ type guesswork, as things stand.

You yourself suggested it? Just theoretically? Look I hope Burke does well, but he's not really a player that has got a lot of attention, you've probably read/heard more him in this last few months than we have in his 4 years. Your own comments also suggest going overseas is a good idea to push ones case for national selection, especially for a team like NZ being so isolated. So i'll ask again, as no of your quotes obviously say one thing or the other, why don't you think he might be trying to advance his case like Leicester did?

Also, you can look at Leicesters statements in a similar fashion, where no doubt you are referring to his comments made while in NZ (still playing a big part of the WC campaign in his case). You should be no means have taken them for granted, and I'd suggest any other coach or management and he might not have returned (been wanted back).

You want to send the patient to a dental hygienest when there is a tooth that needs to be pulled out urgently.

So 13 in five games = 2.6 per game.

With Marcus at 10 in the last seven games, it was 21 tries at 3 tries per pop.

So how exactly has England's attack regressed again??🤣

He's played some pretty good minutes, can't see him being too injury affected other than this year? A late developer for sure though, only 3 full NPC seasons under his belt, and 1 season starting for the Crusaders (as a fullback). I wonder if he'd already told himself before he got injured "I have to fire this year if I'm to be a realistic shot", so then getting injured sealed the deal.

So who were these 6 teams and circumstances of Marcus's loses? I had just written that sentence as a draft and it was still there after adding the prior sentence, so just left it there lol. So not bullying no, but left essentially to say 'i'm not going to find out of myself', yes. I thought I had already proved the need for that sort of requirement with the Razor reference. So as per above, there would be a lot of context to take out of those 14 games (those shared between Farrell Ford and Smith) against higher opponents. It's a good stat/way to highlight the your point, but all a stat like that really does is show you theres something to investigate. Had you done this investigation prior to coming to your realisation, or after?

Yes, my view is that England did very well to push New Zealand on multiple occasions, and Marcus specifically in keeping England in the game against Australia. Personally I think Englands results are more down to luck however. And as I said, I'm here to be swayed, not defend Marcus as the #1. I think I understand were you're coming from, and you make a good observation that the 10 has a fair bit to do with how fast a side can play (though what you said was a 'Marcus neutral' statement) and the same argument has been made with the All Blacks fascination with playing players like Beauden Barrett at 10 who can't orchestrate an attack like that in order to compound LQB into points. Even a 10 like Dmac is more a self creator than one that is a cog in a wider plan.

But I still don't think you'd be right if you've put down the sides lack of LQB (pretty sure I remember checking that stat) compared to the 6N as being something to do with a Marcus Smith side. We've seen other similar teams who rely on it being found out recently as well, I just think it's harder to get that flow on (lets not making it a debate about the relative strength of the hemispheres) now (hence said investigation into those games and contexts are required).

25 is also young, he is the best fit to take the side to a RWC. Ford or Farrell are not. Fin could be, but as you've said with Marcus, that would require a lot of change elsewhere in the team 2 years out of a WC. Marcus will get a 6N to prove himself so to speak, unless Fin gets in quick, I don't think you should want a change if you get a couple of reasonable results. But then you expect England to be in the top 3 of the world, let alone the 6N...