Owens to captain new-look Lions XV against Blues

Extremely difficult to change.

The one team in Oz with any success gets tiny crowds and has few registered players.

It was only put there to even up the numbers and take overflow.

I think that long term the only way is to put current Oz SR teams into an NPC/NRC comp along with Melbourne and Combined Country and start afresh with genuine teams based primarily in Sydney and Brisbane.

Ideally they'd be called Sydney and Brisbane, but other names I've suggested elsewhere in this blog include WA and ACT because the reality is that minor states would kick up a huge fuss if they didn't get a mention

Seems the length of of this vacancy is correlating with the length of his notice period/garden leave/indentured labour.

As I said elsewhere here, it would be easier in the Australian context to cut 4 teams than 1 or 2. A huge fight from Force and/or Brumbies.

Based on performance, Waratahs shouldn't be there, but based on where the majority of players and supporters are, Sydney must be a major centre.

Another, reason is that the brands are all scarred to some extent, particularly the Tahs.

The difficulty as you inferred is how to sell 2 new teams.

The main selling point would be for them to be cracking good, full of good players, and regularly win.

Getting names and identities is a challenge, but less so if the product is good.

The QWA Maroon Force could work,....but only if the team was any good.

Sydney-Canberra Capitals might work too...but only if the team was any good.

Ditto Sky Blue Brumbies.

Whatever it is, make no mistake, 80-90% of supporters, players, crowds are in Sydney and Brisbane

Unfortunately, we can get very excited about such ideas or even two teams joining the English League but both ideas have already been taken off the table!

Easier to cut all 4 teams and send them to an NPC or NRC competition along with Melbourne and Combined Country

In the backs I think de Allende is more likely to make 2027 than Am, given how much Am's form has dropped off since 2021, but neither of them are going to be at their best. Mngomezulu, Moodie, Fassi, and Willemse will probably all be great in 2027. Arendse, Kolbe, Esterhuizen, & Kriel will all be slightly past their best, but at least a couple of them will still be test quality, so there shouldn't be any issues there. The problems Rassie is going to have will be less about whether they have the personnel available, and more about whether they are able to tactically adapt to life without a world class big crash-ball 12 (Esterhuizen and de Allende might be able to play the role in 2027, but they won't be world class) and without world class zippy poachers on the wing (Kolbe and Arendse might still be playing good rugby in 2027, but its hard to believe they'll be running in the same kind of tries that they are now). Its possible that Tony Brown's attacking system is intended partly to overcome these issues (loose forwards in the wide channels might serve as replacements for de Allende, and quick ruck ball will allow tries to be built over multiple phases instead of relying on moments of genius from Arendse and Kolbe), but there might still be a period of adjustment going in to 2027.

In the front three I think Steenekamp is a great find, and Thomas du Toit has finally emerged as a world class player after years of relative mediocrity, but hooker is still a problem. Grobbelaar looks fine, I guess, but he's not Mbonambi, which is what SA will need him to be by 2027.

Back in the day crowds for the Gnoll in Neath or Brewery Field in Bridgend were frequently packed out.

At the risk of being accused of being an arrogant Englishman, I think the England head coach job, should it become vacant, would attract a number of proven international coaches. Another option could be to put someone in above SB as "Director of Rugby" or similar, to mentor an inexperienced coaching group that should not have been allowed to assemble in the first place, in my view.

Short version: England must finish in the top 3 in the 6N, or else change should be mandatory.

I had to turn it off the telly sometimes it was so nauseating. I have my suspicions that this is part of the cause of rugby numbers in NZ falling too, they just don't realise it.

Glass houses mate