Ireland international Jack Carty extends Connacht deal

As for sanzaarg, everything has to start somewhere I suppose but the thing that tied the Lions together was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. What ties do sanzaarg have? Ps mutual loathing doesn’t count…

In terms of relevance, the answers to that come in the desire of every eligible player to tour as the highlight of their career which says much, as does the sheer number of fans that also tour and ofc, the dosh that generates. Now, they’ve had a tougher time than usual over the last two cycles though covid and the current performance woes of Aus but it’s still the cash cow it ever was and that will always keep it alive and kicking!

Unfortunately the commentator, in true Aussie tradition, ala Ricky Stuart, immediately started whining at the end and bagging 3 INTERNATIONAL REFS who’d reached a collective conclusion.

From that moment I was happy they lost.

Grow up Australian Rugby.

You sound like the US Democrats.

At both Super Rugby and test rugby, champion teams have packs which can scrum for penalties for an easy exit in their own end and can scrum for penalties or kicks into the corner to set up a maul for tries.

There are no outstanding scrummaging props in Australia. Props are selected for their ball running, props are heralded for their ball running, and their scrummaging is neglected.

Same for hookers to a lesser extend.

Their second row has also been mediocre. There are no world class locks in Australia that are all held in the same esteem as Etzebeth, Symens, Retallick, Itoje, or Beirne. Skeleton is dominant for no more than 30-40 minutes at test level before his tank is empty.

The Springboks and All Blacks will scrum the Wallabies off the park in the Rugby Championship.

And unceremoniously decimate the North everywhere.

I think there’s a fine line between too much rugby and chasing the money. I think we’ve passed it.

Are the Lions relevant anymore?

Having said that - If you held a gun to my head - I wouldn’t mind seeing Fiji, Japan or even France winning a World Cup.

But none of the rest.