Captain Lamaro benched as Italy make wholesale changes for Ireland

D-Mac can create something out of nothing . But under presume he doesn’t have the goods . Barrett will kick the ball away first chance he gets , if he kicked into space it would be a string to his game . But it’s yet to be seen .

The starting 8 will be the key to the All Blacks . won’t matter who’s at 10 if the starting 8 don’t play a strong game . Ardie been carrying for to long . Will be on his last legs come 2027 hopefully by then we have more then just 1 or 2 ball carriers upfront who can actually make decent meters.

What’s the crowd draw for the games so far ? . I was watching the warriors play …

See Deepet’s comment on Instonians below.

Interesting to see Wallace now a power, and for them, happy to see them finally win the Cup…after some 7 ateempts. When I was coaching, Wallace were a hockey school, just beginning to play some rugby. Quite a transition.

Actually I’m sad to see the decline of some formerly great rugby schools. Coleraine Inst, Bangor GS now no longer competitive at all.

“And how might it relate to current day?” Pondering that one, not so easy. I would say just not enough really talented playes, esp. in key positions. Flyhalf be one, scrumhalf too. John Cooney was great, now older. Days of having Ruan Pienaar were better. Probably coaching too, All recent coaches seem to struggle. Take Les Kiss. I would rate him a very good coach, went on the lift London Irish a lot till they folded financially. Now doing a good job with Qld, may soon be WB coach.

“when you say ‘we’ the lad was from Ulster?” No, Leinster, Kilkenny now, Roscrea previously, so schools outside Dublin. They don’t generally have the coaching expertise that schools like Blackrock can call on. Roscrea did win the Schools Cup in 2015…think they brought in a professional coach that year.

Don’t get me wrong 5-3 should be our go to but surely it should be 5-3 with best players in preferred positions or 6-2 with some utility options. We seem stuck in between the two.

In any case we need an answer to France and Boks if they are can go for a 7-1. Kirifi could be that 6th impact forward we need.