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Interesting thoughts from Mr Wessels now that he's out of the Oz systems and back in RSA. Pt 1/2

Might as well play Adam Freier if all we care about is striking and throwing, he's still running around for Randwick no?

I wouldn't be surprised to see Uelese-Gibbon-Fa'aumalisi be the bench front row again, much to the chagrin of many on here.

Pone and Schoupp in, Tupou drops to the A team for this week

Is it reasonable to expect more than that from a 3rd or 4th in line prop? Putting France and South Africa to one side, how many Nations have more than 3 to 5 props total for whom that group down doesn't become a game of compromise, and you're deciding between players who are either not elite at...

One A game and a month of Barbarians fixtures for ~15 blokes no? The bulk of the starters in the A team will be made up of the 10 players who're over there for the World Cup but not selected in the French game.

Absolutely, I 100% don't want to suggest he's been anything but a wonderful servant for Scotland, Glasgow and to a slightly lesser extent Exeter, but I think like many others he came out of that '21 BILs tour with less energy and enthusiasm for the game, and for him in particular, taking into...

Stuart Hogg has decided to retire prior to the World Cup. https://scottishrugby.org/stuart-hogg-announces-retirement-from-rugby/ Without sounding ungrateful or gleeful, I think this is the right call by him for a variety of personal and team based reasons, and I think will be positive for...

Re: The Vunivalu card: Rules been in place for a long time that one hand out ball down is deliberate. Sometimes you win e.g. Maitland in the '15 quarter, sometimes you lose.

Early morning brain thoughts Lots of reshuffling in defence across the backs, not sure if that's the way to go. Losing Tom Hooper early seemed to really disrupt forward plans and made things a lot more passive especially without the ball, and at the lineout. Hope it's a stinger and not a...

Something something geriatric something something playing favourites something something

I hope he sees this bro

In isolation, I think this is a reasonable point. But specifically there are a small handful of considerations, that for me make... coddling? T Hooper a potential hiding to nothing: (a) Leota has played 0 minutes this season: he realistically needs to play in at least 3 of the remaining...

This is it. No one doubts Hooper's talent, and in a conventional year what you'd expect is for him to have accumulated about 4-6 caps, across June (although I guess it's July now) Internationals, the RC and the EOYTs, depending on fitness of players in his position and availability of A tours...

Wouldn't that be the point of his selection (at least for this cycle)? Either he's up to it today and worth persisting with in the lead up to the World Cup, or EJ (Eddie Jones) reverts back to the known quantity of Holloway (maybe Leota or LSL (Lukhan Salakaia-Loto) but realistically it's Jed).

I thought HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes)'s scrummaging had gone way backwards this season.

Hodge at 12 feels like Kerevi is "not quite" ready and they want another kicker in the starting backline somewhere. Must be frustrating for Foketi though, deserves a shot.

Holloway IMO seems like a "sure thing": we know that if required he'll slot into 6 and run the lineout show no worries, but EJ (Eddie Jones) will want to see if he can trade some of that assuredness at line out for more dynamic carrying, it needs to be tested now or never to have time to revert back if it...

What does that team look like in people's opinions? Schoupp, Longergan, Fa’amausili, Neville, Salakaia-Loto/Hanigan, Swinton, Wilkin, Wilson Gordon, Foley, Anderson, O'Connor, Flook, Toole, Campbell Fainga'a, Lambert, Talakai, Hanigan/Salakaia-Loto, Uru, Fines-Leleiwasa, Walton, Sapsford With...