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Noah was ruled out following his concussion, wasn't he? You'd have to think he is still first choice (second after Quade) - in my eyes he certainly hasn't played poorly enough to warrant being dropped for Foley or Hodge. As you said though, silver-lining is that we can see whether Foley's up to...

Pretty stiff whack to Jock Campbell too imo. He's been waiting in the wings and getting praised publicly by the coach, only to be leapfrogged by first Hodge (probably understandably) and now Beale (far less understandably). At least he gets a QPR final I guess

That was part of his justification for picking Gordon over McDermott in Sydney - not starting a debate on these two, just flagging that he's specifically used the 'hometown hero' reasoning previously

Samu for McReight and Beale for Hodge are a bit baffling to be honest

While I agree with this point, it's already the case that a large number of players are learning the basics for the first time at 11/12/13 during their first year (or even later) at high school.

The unfortunate accidents/injuries aren't the issue for CTE though; it's the routine, mundane tackles and collisions – i.e. a 'fundamental' element of sports like rugby – that are the issue, which is why it's such a conflicting situation.

Our understanding of CTE, its prevalence, presentation, and influencers of severity is of course still evolving as we investigate further. There is no debating that. There is also no debating that repeated head impacts are detrimental to the brain, particularly in those not fully developed...

There is no debate on the science/data you're questioning though - we know that youth/adolescent brains are more vulnerable, and that brain development is impacted by repeated trauma. The suggestion being made to delay or abstain entirely from exposure to repeated head trauma is, developmentally...

Are you ignoring the previous 31 pages of discussion or...?

On the midweek games - we can’t really see them as a viable option longer term can we? Historically midweek games do lower numbers on telly, lower numbers to the ground, undoubtedly those in attendance spend less in and around the venue, fewer watching in pubs across the country/world, etc...

Me looking at the Wallabies a few months ago: "Finally! Our best chance to win a Bledisloe and TRC in years!" Me looking at the Wallabies now:

Definitely not trying to detract from the Boks' dominance, nor excuse the Wallabies' poor play, which were obviously the key differentiators on the game. In hindsight it's probably the wrong thread for this as it's not necessarily specific to this match, but more a general observation from...

Deservedness of penalties aside, the issue for mine is that following seemingly every game O'Keefe oversees, the post-match talk is about his style of officiating and how terribly dreary the game was. As others have highlighted, his decision making is typically correct by the letter of the law...

Arguably, Hodge’s best attribute is his cannon of a boot - if that isn’t utilised in the game plan (e.g. last night), I think he’s still most suited to that bench utility role. He absolutely had a solid game last night, but as Reg said, he got burnt for pace a few times and seemed to...

Fuck me, this is getting tiresome

Out of curiosity, does anyone know of the last pro match that went to uncontested scrums off the back of an unsuitable pitch?

His persistence with the black turtleneck and suit combo would lend him well to the Italians too

G Rob is generally pretty on the money

As opposed to not-so-Flash Gordon? Would give Phipps a run for slowest service