Sevens : on connait les groupes France pour les Jeux olympiques

Yes, whilst Donnalson did some ok things in the game, you highlighted why he can't really be there.

A lot of our issues have to do with strategy etc, but where there is a player who just can't deliver he can't really be there.

Notwithstanding this when Donnalson went off, things got worse including exits, though his replacement wasn't to blame.

I guess that means Lolesio at 10!

SURELY they'll work on exit strategy....and defensive systems that the players in the team can understand...simple ones.

Given the headline, it is a must that we deliver against the Lions, and we must start with the EOY tour, or no-one will turn up. That must mean half a dozen OS players injected. Shouldn't be that hard to splice them into existing strategies, given its not even a quarter of a match day 23.

In the meantime, just don't get thrashed by NZ. Everyone in the country hears about an All Blacks thrashing, even if they still haven't heard about the Pumas or the Puma debacle.

The All Blacks game will be on FTA TV, and everyone has heard of the All Blacks!

Razor won't make it easy

You have clearly lost your tenuous grasp on reality.

Last season the 6th best English team made a champions cup SF, and the 9th best English team made the challenge cup final.

To be fair the Cheetahs did better than I remembered. I guess they are the 5th best South African side, and are probably on a par with a team like Newcastle? Perhaps the Griquas could give Ealing Trailfinders a tough game.

I think the problem is the financial weakness of the Championship sides. Most of them would struggle to compete at the premiership level because they don't have the backing and infrastructure in place. After several seasons with no promotion and relegation though, I think you have to just give Ealing a shot, and see if the increased exposure they'd get in the premiership can be translated into long term growth. I don't see a downside to this, given that in the short term it would make sense to promote teams without relegating anyone, so the biggest winners would probably be Newcastle, who would retain their premiership place but finally start having winnable fixtures.

Relegation of the Welsh sides is an interesting idea. Are you suggesting a British league instead of the URC?

If England develop as hoped over the next few years then Sinckler, Willis, and Arundell will all need to be looking genuinely world class to break back into the squad. World cups are won by experienced teams, so unless England are really really struggling in a particular position, it will almost always be better to stick with guys who have minutes together, rather than reintroduce someone who has 0 minutes of international rugby in the past 3 seasons, and who doesn't have any experience of playing with the rest of the team.