14 All Blacks released to play NPC quarter-finals

This Bok lineup has 10 of the 23 in the Rugbypass Top 100, as follows:

Cheslin Kolbe 2

Ox Nche 10

Kurt-Lee Arendse 19

Damian de Allende 22

Malcolm Marx 36

Siya Kolisi 39

Kwagga Smith 40

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 47

Jesse Kriel 63

Manie Libbok 87

And the BaaBaas have .. 2 players of their 23 in the top 100:

Mark Telea 37

Sam Cane 81

I get it that there are some great players on the list, including veterans, up-and-comers, and some that have been unlucky in their national selection processes. It is a strong team, and being over 50% from NZ (12 out of the 23) with a highly accomplished NZ coach, there is a good chance that they will have a successful NZ-based team DNA.

Having said that you can’t help wondering what this team could have looked like in the absence of the calendar conflict with international tours.

“While scrums are a small part of the game in terms of time spent in them, they have disproportionate impact. Dominant scrums win games; feeble ones lose them.”

Strength at the breakdown wins games. Good kicking wins games. Good handling wins games. Strong defence wins games. Good lineouts win games. Ultimately, I think that of all these things, the scrum is probably the least important, because it demonstrably doesn’t correlate very well with winning games. I don’t think Rugbypass will allow me to link articles, but if you google “HG Rugby Crowning the Best Scrum in Club Rugby” you’ll get a pretty convincing analysis that ranks Toulouse and Bordeaux outside of the 10 best club sides in the scrum - and ranks Leinster outside of the top 30.

“Or there’s Joe Marler’s epic performance in the Bristol v Quins 2021 Premiership Semi-Final, in which he finally left the pitch 15 minutes into extra time having signed off with a try saving tackle.”

Yeah - that’s a good example actually, but it kind of disproves your point. Marler played 95 minutes, which is unheard of for a prop.

“Maybe we need a dedicated Hall of Fame with entry only for props, and voted for only by props.”

Well we have the World Rugby XV of the year. Its only been going for a few years, but in time it’ll be a pretty good record of who are perceived as best props - although the lack of interest most people have in scrums means that perception of who the best props are doesn’t always match reality (e.g. Tadgh Furlong was great in 2018 - but was he really the best tighthead in the world in 2021, 2022, & 2023?).

But if Freeman plays off his 13 in that situation Argnetine are bound to get at least to within 5m of the line, if not score. You can’t drift off with only 15-20 metres of land to defend.

The Lions lineout needs a bit of work but Maro has been working with that short B/R all season with England!

Few more warm up games to go before the first game should see them much improved and settled.