Premiership champions Saracens agree deal with Barritt

Discuss

Losing against the ABs with a B (some say C) Team isn’t going to set fire alarms off back at home. They have free license to lose. To experiment. To take risks.

On the off chance they win a game (my money is on this weekend’s game) - Galthie will be hailed a genius.

Lose all three tests? Meh. Will anyone in France bat an eyelid?

Galthie has used two tours in two years to play so-called B teams - which is doing exactly what the Author and others are suggesting Galthie do. He’s building depth in a player group and combinations who have travelled.

The stars left back home don’t need development. And don’t need to travel to enhance their games right now. Leave them back home to look after their bodies - keep the mileage low.

Yes this might backfire on them in 2027, but it’s a strategy - and not an awful one - Galthie is sticking to with consistency.

Getting beaten by the ABs in New Zealand is not experience to be scoffed at for an extended group of players hungry to go to 2027.

Beware of any complacency to the All Blacks and their fans. The French are an unpredictable lot.

You don’t get many number 10’s as tough as Owen Farrell

Why destroy players beyond safe levels when you can use it to develop new talent. The B team did pretty well against Aussie a few years back.

A legit ANZAC team, in some years might not have many Wallabies in the starting side.

A lot of Oz fans are anti-Cheika - his last 18 - 24 months weren’t great. I personally would like to see him coach Australia again. I think he has consistently proven he is our best qualified coach and I think he is better than when he was there in 2019. A lot of people think that Raelene Castle was a good administrator but I am not in that camp. The Israel Folau situation and the impact it had on some other Polynesian players (Kerevi and Tupou are both on record for saying it caused a split) would have also been extremely difficult to manage. As a former coach (in lower grades) I can’t imagine how I would have been able to handle that side of things in terms of team unity, the demands of the press, and all the additional pressure it placed on the unit.

So, my choice would be to bring Cheika back, but after 2027 (if someone else doesn’t emerge in the meantime). I see LK as part of the JS era (sort of Obama/Biden vibes). Cheika will want to revolutionise and, while I think that will be fine, I don’t think 18 months out from the next RWC is the time to do it. We did that with Eddie and it had diabolical results and I think we are all a bit gun shy about doing the same thing again.