Fiji's Gaby Lovobalavu makes French switch

On the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, they posed the question of whether Jordie Barrett has the best overall skill set of any player in the world. Dupont is probably the only other player in the world with a better overall skill set that JB.

Tackling is at the very heart of the culture, and you can see that in the way Rassie chose to restore pride in the Springboks. Big defence, big scrum.

Leinster have responded well to Nienaber’s teaching, even though it has prob changed the overall balance of their game.

So to get a double you must:

Secure home draws in both URC and CC.

That means having a B team capable of winning URC matches during 6 Nations or down in SA or before/after CC breaks. That has only progressed to being a reality this year. They have the required squad NOW.

Leinster could focus on the URC and win every year but they are more ambitious, and do risk criticism from the sideline experts.

So in European terms only Leinster and Toulouse seriously try to win doubles.

Leinster played above themselves last year to contain an amazing Toulouse team. The drop to win was a hair wide. That said they played above themselves. Where was the psyche issue?

Leinster turned up against an Outstanding LaRochelle team and were on their line with 90s left, just needing a penalty before Allaltoas rush of blood. They put themselves in the right place to win, just as LaRochelle has previous year, an individual error, it happens.

In URC terms they have no piers and cannot get high quality tests (for the full team) in the URC in the way French Champions Cup contenders can in the Top14. All of these matches were one score. LaRochelle squeezing results out of Leinster was the reason they wanted to switch focus on defence. That LaRochelle team was a genera

Almost every pundit agreed that the old QF chestnut should not apply in 2023 because the draw meant that NZ-IRL was de facto a semi final. Would be interested for these QF experts to specify which QFs they think Ireland should have won but choked?

Get Sexton to pick him up from the airport and explain ‘Dublin4’ to him.

Or he should also just drop D’Mac as Richie boy will be back for the 2027 RWC?