Saracens confirm Owen Farrell's return to English rugby

Christian is the incumbent at eight and Vaa’i at six and of course Savea at seven but by a country mile as he's been incredible this year after last year having to cover the extremely tenacious but limited Canes farewell tour.

Sititi needs to prove he's ready to return at NPC or something. If he can perform like last year then he's in the selection frame.

You talk of blooding young talent, most of these young players are in Super Rugby , Māori Teams and U20 teams have been blooded already. So, NZ needs innovation and the youth is what NZ should be using to develop, those young players who have international experience, the RWC is 2 years away!

New Zealand threw away top coaching staff and who zapped them….South Africa and with Rassie have created a force to be reckoned with! These coaches were also responsible for new AB’s players coming into the present Māori team, AB’s team! Do your homework, the Springboks would know this about these AB’s!

Look at what Springboks used their young talent in past 4 weeks and achieved more for their future WC campaign. So come the WC these young players will have Top international experience with innovation and speed!

I agree that New Zealand has taken more from this tour. At first sight.

But maybe the experience of many of those guys will transfer into their game.

We’ll see!

In 1999, France was demolished by the ABs 54 to 7 (or something like that) during the Summer tour. That defeat helped them reach the final after winning an impossible game to win 43-32.

I haven’t seen a study devoted to the longevity of Top 14 players, but I’d bet they have a shorter pro shelf life than elsewhere, which means the league has to eat talent [esp from overseas] at a much faster rate.

A proven test player who is well over 100 caps yet still only 33 years old and the second all time test points scorer with a career average of 11 PTS a match.

The series loss to AB last year was narrow and called out for a bit of game management. Farrell may well have been the difference had he been involved.

Rieko is considerably better and can cover midfield. Caleb and Reece are carried by Will Jordan and we need wingers that score tries. If you don't score tries then your not a winger.

Couldn’t be more pleased for him with the Lions this summer, though - he has very much earned the shirt and made good on his selection last Saturday.

He doesn't need it as an attack weapon as he is so good around the rucks with ball in hand. Unless they are under penalty advantage, he generally uses it as a good escape route when they are on the back foot.

I think he's motoring along nicely.