Why PRO14 could soon become PRO18: 'I'm absolutely keeping on with my negotiations'

Coaching seems to be a young mans game. Rassie is 52 (so won his first RWC aged 46), Robertson 50, Farrell 49, Borthwick 45. Galthié is a little older at 56, but would you back him to still be an international coach 8 years time?

Still bodes well for England. A young lad coming straight up from a current U20’s campaign and into the senior squad.

My hunch is that Lancaster may work best with another man as the DoR so would be keen to see how this goes. Potentially culminating with the redemption arc victory for England under Lanny and Faz at the 2031 RWC?!

He’s definitely wrong about Dmac too, yes. Pretty much everything he said, in either the words he used or the way he said, was off in that interview. Said Dmac was a “linebreaker” like what, hello, with his pass? The one question I thought they were close to getting right and actually being worthwhile, other than a few bits to Robinson on the running side, was when they asked about valuing experience and youth in his second year. Really missed the boat there as they got a mundane answer, needed to be more direct and ask how does the balance between selecting experience, the players that have class, and those players that in form change now that you’re into your second year. Would he flat out deny any change, or would there have been some honesty about how little it would be. He’d be proud enough to presume he was perfect last year so he’ll obviously been taking the same ‘perfect’ approach this year! One telling tid bit was when he made up some numbers about new caps going through a World Cup cycle, where he had 10 one year, 5 the next, a couple.. and stated that youve also got to be open to ‘bolters’ so you “don’t shut any doors”.. sounds like some pretty weak innovation incoming.

Let him play where he wants to play and where he can be influential.