Sale's McGuigan to miss crunch European games following ban

Think we have to accept we have been on the slide for a while now.Still interesting to see the repeated media pieces about the myth of the ABs slipping-I would say slipped past tense.In part don’t we have to give credit for the improvement of other nations particularly Ireland?Isnt that good for the game?Are we beginning to feel the impact of losing the Boks from Super rugby and maybe soon TRC?I would agree we are also ran right now so will be interesting to see how we progress-assuming we do!Isnt that part of sport though to be in improvement mode?Back to the stats though I think the Boks were under 60% leading into 2019?Now with the focus on the RWC does it matter so much what you are doing between tournaments?You just get through your group(remembering the ABs qualified 2nd in 2023)and then you have 3 matches to win the thing.

The ABs have more than enough back line guys so don’t see issue there. Just the balance at center and feel time for Rieko to sit out.Forwards- balance still not right. Front row ok but miss Codie. But still ok. Locks- you now need to start s a tall timber at middle of lineout- Darry is the right guy. Then move Sititi to 8, move Ardie to 7 and then move Vaai to blindside. He can become the closest to PSdT . Then have proper bench as this is not a demotion but key to dominating last 30 minutes- Patrick, Ofa etc are golden here. Get the balance right between starters and finishers