Sanconnie to make France debut against Italy

The reason why the behaviour of Pollock makes headlines is because it is still quite rare in rugby. Your examples go back to 1974, 2003 and 2022. Of course there are chirps between players during a game but what Pollock is doing is more like the showboating you see after a touchdown in NFL. He’s not the only one of course. Just about every Stormers try comes with an elaborate handshake or routine. Perhaps the future of rugby is more like NFL but I reckon it will always be annoying to a lot of people.

Also, unless you are Matt Williams or Gregor Townsend, 6-2/7-1 was never against the spirit of the game. It’s an argument brought up by pundits to get attention or frustrated coaches who are trying to justify poor results. Most coaches, players and supporters get it. Even World Rugby gave it the thumbs up. It should be celebrated for its innovation.

Now, now Edward. That would require multiple brain cells.

As Leinster were unbackable I covered my bet by getting Saints on a 10 PT spread. Quid’s in, champ!!!!!

Wake up.

Meanwhile Ford will play really well for England.

Boy that is some squad, really looking forward to this tour.

Go the Aussies.!!!

I wouldn’t have picked Marcus for the squad, but I wouldn’t have selected Ford either. Not sure what you think this proves - Marcus isn’t good enough for England, and he isn’t doing well in the premiership or europe, he’s been selected in a squad but we’ll see how it goes when he is given game time!

Ha ha ha.

Oooer.

Where is Little ford too.

No idea .

I rest my case

And against CAN & IRE, we didn’t bother structuring the grunt work up front. We were running around like headless chickens from the word go. Against CAN we had 59% possession but only 41% territory. And they made 247 tackles to our 117. Clearly we spent too much time running around in circles in our own half.

The IRE flankers feasted off our poor cleans & had an immense game, both scoring 2 tries each. Their other try was from their hooker. We on the other hand flashed the ball around our backs, looked amazing at times, but lacked sustained physicality & grunt in the forward battle.

Also, given FRA's recent one point loss to ENG in 6N, I now regard them as serious opposition. A huge step up from WXV1 2024 when we thrashed them.

I see Leti as a bench impact player. Portia wants to play 13 but she’s nowhere near ready for the nuances of that role in tests. Some work-ons: setting up outsides, defense awareness/strategy, chip, grubber, pass, run it up the guts, creating space . . . 2nd nature decision making under pressure. Still good enough to start on the wing. Stacey Waaka's still our top #13 imo.