Scarlets suffer backrow injury blow

Australia has very few, if any, world class scrummaging props or hookers.

The Lions will scrum for penalties, kick for touch, and maul off line-outs. And they will be very good at it.

That leaves 7 open and very interesting to see if that will be Kirifi, Blackadder, or Papalii (one to start, one in squad, one in NPC as injury cover).

Continuity is really valuable, and conversely changes at the top can cause immediate regression and even long-tail organizational trauma. New coaching brings new emphases, new game plans, new structures, new coaching assistants, new selections and a new culture. All of those may or may not be positive, but they are certain to be more or less disruptive, at least for a while.

Conversely, the really successful teams have had stable coaching over many years, with robust grooming of successors, retention of institutional knowledge, etc. The solution for Leinster may be to make some adjustments. And that should be rigorously considered before reaching for the ejector button.

Leinster delivered extraordinary victories in the two previous games. There were no calls for resignations. Had the ref allowed the disallowed Leinster try in this game there would have been no calls for resignations. To me it feels like there are millimeters between hero and zero in this case.