Eben Etzebeth v Maro Itoje head to head

Their historical average is something like 77% these days and, although some years will always be better than others it is not likely to drop that dramatically to 70% any time soon. There is too much historical inertia on the stats. It is like saying Ireland’s form of the last 10 years or so is likely to reverse a historical average of 48% wins soon. It just isn’t.

Moreover, when you say they are ‘doomed’ to a 70% flatline are you not just assuming that Ireland will beat them again? How did that work out for you last time?

Borthwick has got it wrong, so very wrong. From what I hear camp has regressed and become an unhappy place once more. You only need to look at Marler’s abrupt departure when the team was named in camp and the grenade he lobbed on his way out the door that effectively retired him from test rugby! It was clear that he was livid at missing out on his match fee (no longer paid unless you’re in the 23 or on an eps contract apparently). Introducing a two tier system on the eve of the AIs was total madness!!! And then there’s selection. Slade wasn’t anywhere near ready, neither was Ford and hooking smith when the game is in the balance was beyond comprehension. Even if he needed to do that, fin smith steered his team adroitly to the Prem last year but was nowhere to be seen.

Then there’s his game plan. England looked like they were in danger of making real progress towards the end of the 6N but Saturday was the antithesis of that approach. There wasn’t an attack visible that was worthy of the description.

Borthwicks win rate is now abysmally low and this is beginning to look like it only end badly…

Nz also seem to be relying on older players for some positions too. Who else can play 10 outside Barrett and D mac?

I can see no reason why the URC and Martin Anayi would cast SA adrift after they have already contributed so much to the comp's growth.

It sounds like ppl were given room to wriggle out of a sense of responsibility, and that's how it felt at the time.

As you say the geopolitics are now working against NZ. If the URC expands to include English sides it will become the biggest, and in time prob the best league in the world. It could have as many as six diff natiosn all competing in one comp.

I reckon the ABs deserved to win on Saturday even though England should have put the game away at the end. NZ were the better attacking team.

Then again, with private equity at the table, literally anything could happen!!

Personally I’d be very disappointed if SA & Italy were cast adrift.

That said, I just don’t see how NZ gets back to any kind of dominant position. Sure they can compete well but the structural issues around the geopolitics of world rugby have moved against them and they’ve got their work cut out just to stay in and around the top 3. I say this as someone who predicted they would prevail over England at Twickenham last Saturday but even then, their handling errors and poor execution in attack left a lot of points out on the pitch. I genuinely can’t recall seeing an All Black team rack up so many last pass errors in one game.

Of those you mention, I recall the one who interested me most was Elliott Dixon. Whatever happened to him? He looked like he could be the next Kaino!

Dual playmakers were always a thing, you maybe didn't notice because guys like Nonu and the two Smiths were so multi-faceted. The ppl who replaced them could not multi-task as well, esp versus [legal] rush D!