How to watch England A vs Ireland A

For instance, here are last years touring teams, should total numbers (2 more games/weekends what French players are it here in this article).

First 23 of two match series against New Zealand and South Africa respectfully;

England

Joe MARLER 1238 32

Jamie GEORGE 1822 32

Will STUART 1322 35

Maro ITOJE 2541 33

George MARTIN 1357 22

Chandler CUNNINGHAM-SOUTH 987 24

Sam UNDERHILL 1598 24

Ben EARL 1869 27

Alex MITCHELL 2041 32

Marcus SMITH 2178 34

Tommy FREEMAN 2530 35

Ollie LAWRENCE 2148 33

Henry SLADE 2554 34

Immanuel FEYI-WABOSO 1773 28

George FURBANK 709 12

Theo DAN 1184 38

Fin BAXTER 1414 28

Dan COLE 1268 28

Alex COLES 1839 28

Tom CURRY 373 9

Ben SPENCER 1741 28

Fin SMITH 2036 33

Ollie SLEIGHTHOLME 1325 23

Ireland

Andrew PORTER 1717 27

Dan SHEEHAN 1411 28

Tadhg FURLONG 1356 26

Joe MCCARTHY 1857 27

Tadhg BEIRNE 2372 31

Peter O'MAHONY 1372 24

Josh VAN DER FLIER 1784 29

Caelan DORIS 2149 33

Craig CASEY 1409 26

Jack CROWLEY 2202 33

James LOWE 1681 22

Bundee AKI 1749 22

Robbie HENSHAW 1862 26

Calvin NASH 1871 26

Jamie OSBORNE 1421 19

Ronan KELLEHER 1047 30

Cian HEALY 517 22

Finlay BEALHAM 1102 27

James RYAN 1137 21

Ryan BAIRD 1616 28

Conor MURRAY 898 29

Ciarán FRAWLEY 1518 28

Garry RINGROSE 1180 18

As you can see, and would expect, there is no reason France’s best players shouldn’t be playing if they want to, with Englands players managing well and following up with a strong 6N despite a much heavier load, and only slightly behind (as this French season is still going) Irelands similar player management of players, compared to French clubs (with its heavy Leinster following), which allowing them to take part.

So is it all bogus? Well don’t let these numbers decide for you. Their source is questionable and it’s only one season (a RWC one at that). French fans complaining about overworked players do well to point out things have improved only recently and that players are still recovering from heavier loads some two or three years prior.

I’ve added some more numbers for anyone with interest.

England 23/24 minutes 37847 games 652

Ireland 23/24 minutes 35228 games 602

France A 24/25 minutes 37160 games 623

France C 24/25 minutes 33200 games 612

France B (the remaining players not in A or C)

Cyril BAILLE 635 16

Georges-Henri COLOMBE 550 17

Reda WARDI 1362 27

Tevita TATAFU 655 16

Joshua BRENNAN 1254 28

Matthias HALAGAHU 1114 23

Bastien VERGNES-TAILLEFER 1206 27

Charles OLLIVON 877 14

Esteban ABADIE 1893 27

Greg ALLDRITT 1804 27

Marko GAZZOTTI 1516 30

Thibault DAUBAGNA 1310 28

Matthieu JALIBERT 1847 28

Nicolas DEPOORTÈRE 1629 25

Pierre-Louis 1751 26

Leo BARRÉ 1621 26

We can see the team for Scotland would have easily matched/surpassed England, were we have 1200 minutes a match, so we can consider this a sound principle for a group of players (a large part of selection/fitness criteria was based around excluding the 6N team) if not on an individual level.

Like for Like compared to some touring Lions(missing finalists, all.rugby is not following midweek games) ;

Ellis GENGE 1544 27

Finlay BEALHAM 1385 25

Pierre SCHOEMAN 1455 28

Tadhg FURLONG 394 10

Luke COWAN-DICKIE 1673 28

Ronan KELLEHER 908 21

Maro ITOJE 2136 28

Scott CUMMINGS 1061 20

Tadhg BEIRNE 2106 27

Ben EARL 1869 27

Henry POLLOCK 1618 27

Jac MORGAN 1919 26

Tom CURRY 1427 24

Alex MITCHELL 1353 22

Tomos WILLIAMS 1744 26

Fin SMITH 1834 27

Marcus SMITH 2115 28

Bundee AKI 1509 22

Elliot DALY 1662 23

Sione TUIPULOTU 1309 17

Duhan VAN DER MERWE 1463 20

Mack HANSEN 1270 17

Tommy FREEMAN 2202 29

Lions v Arg 23 - minutes 35956 games 549

France C, at 33k min, is very light. Was there a middle ground to be had or is it all bogus and the french clubs are out of control? Their brand will be hurting big time, and there are opportunities for LNR to make some easy fixes. Do they have the balls?

Hard luck for Clarke who now leaves the squad, almost as if he was never there. And Sevu too for that matter if he’s ruled out next week too. 🤣

Moananu couldn’t get into either the Blues or Chiefs, his home franchises, but Razor saw the potential & signed him in 2023. Unfortunately, he was faced with #3 status for 2026 & had clearly put the feelers out. Seemingly the Tahs outbid any others.

And the Crusaders pipeline just keeps on going. The two NZ U20 World Cup hookers are both from the Crusaders Academy, & one’s already had a SRP match as a reserve when both Bell & Taylor were injured.