Mitre 10 Cup draw sees traditional powers get opportunity to seize Ranfurly Shield off Canterbury

Sarries possibly had 11 people with international caps, I didn't bother to count but they didn't have 11 established internationals, they rested all their best players. Had Itoje, Daly, George, Earl etc been there, it may have been different.

Same with Sarries - they had 11 internationals and led 13-35 at some point and LOST convincingly.

And I have been a critic of TT over the past 2/3 seasons, but can now see him improving towards where he once was. His scrummaging is looking more targeted in the right areas, and some of his handling is quite sublime.

Things are getting interesting up in your hemisphere, Nick. That result in Dublin would not help Marcus Smith’s cause. The Munster win over LAR won’t harm Crowley’s cause. Craig Casey by all accounts has started back very strongly too. Their big test though will come next weekend down the coast in France. Bordeaux will be a far superior foe to the now deeply troubled LAR.

Down here, Waratah scrumhalf Teddy Wilson I like. Also the ex Rebel Josh Canham has hit he ground running with the Reds.

That said, the Heineken Cup is really not a level playing field. English club sides are competing against provincial sides from the URC and French clubs with much larger budgets.

If Pollock and Willis are 2 of the 4 specialist flankers, for arguments sake let's say JVDF and Tom Curry are the others… so you're leaving potentially Ben Curry, Ben Earl and Jac Morgan at home but taking a kid with 1 cap off the bench? I really don't see it. Even if they find room for 5 flankers with Earl going as a hybrid you're leaving Jac Morgan and Ben Curry… and the fact that Jac Morgan is very likely to be picked so Wales have 1 or 2 players on the tour makes this even less likely. Imagine Farrell taking 4 English flankers including a kid with 30 mins test experience over Wales’ best player leaving them with potentially zero tourists. Plaid Cymru would be demanding a referendum! Pollock is the kind of kid who you'd take a punt on to be a Lions bolter in another cycle where there wasn't already a raft of world class, test hardened flankers to choose from. This time round his only realistic chance is an injury call up.

Everyone “looks good” when EVERYONE else has an average defence system.