The massive compliment Joe Marler paid to a teenage Sale tighthead

So quite a few issues

Facts matter

Imagine having a no consequence tour against NZ, to get some practice, against a full strength NZ team. It’s amazing he’s getting away with it.

😇

He talks like an Englishman with a sneer in the background, but in that convo he was all about how Ireland were going to smash England and revelling in the prospect!

Then more recently he’s into trashing Leinster and the IRFU whenever he can… Go figure.

But still, even with travel, we’re talking about 13 games in 5 months, meaning 2,6/month, with bigger breaks in between.

If you’re fearing the ABs are too tired in November and the end of their Autumn tour is exhausting, then it’s exactly where most of the French players are when asked to go on tour.

So it’s not the SH always putting at disposal their best players for Autumn tours, it’s the calendar allowing them to do so.

Reverse the tour and have the NH tour in the SH during the Autumn tests! You’ll see the availability question will be solved.

The NH teams will be rusty for their first games of the season, but it’s the same for SH teams in the current tests, isn’t it?

The year after, have development teams from the SH come to the NH for the Summer Tour. That way everyone builds depth and there’s no disrespect.

And just alternate.

The backline and selections in the backline seems a mess.

And, by the way, can you tell me who are also those that ever transformed a single French club into their cash cow?

It’s probably an old cliché comming from, some time ago in early pro time, the revival of both Ile-de-France clubs by private investors like J. Lorenzetti at Racing 92, or the rise of Toulon’s “Gallacticos” under Mourad Boudjellal, ending with the very noisy late Altrad investments into Montpellier-Hérault. Even if a few major titles were collected by those clubs, and that it would indeniably have helped to rise the fame of the whole Top 14, the global return on private investments simply didn’t ever pay back what they put in.

Another look into the last decade will show you that French clubs are not millionaires pet-projects either. From this season top 6, amongst Stade Toulousain (1st), Union Bordeaux-Bègles (2nd), Rugby Club Toulonnais (3rd), l’Aviron Bayonnais (4th), Clermont-Auvergne (5th) and Castres Olympique (6th), only the last two are backed by historical corporate entities: Michelin (tires) for Clermont and Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (pharma) for Castres.

That’s long term sponsorship from those city main industries and, with Stade Toulousain since 1907, Clermont and Castres (one of the lowest budget in Top 14), are also the oldest members of the French rugby club elite. This certainly prove some healthy stability in their management. They are in fact as far away from marketing “products” that they are from Paris.

But in Top 14, as reflected by their national team selection, club power is certainly measured by their success. The most successful of them all, Stade Toulousain, reached a 2023-2024 budget comparable with the lower end of a French elite football club (those not named PSG) and half of it’s income (€30 millions) was comming from merchandising sales only. Last monday, UBB sold out, in a matter of few hours, its 20K season ticket (out of their 32K seats stadium) and La Rochelle’s stadium was also sold out faster than I can type it for every single game of last season; and so on.

Now, take only those three clubs providing 90% of the national team and paying 100% of their wages. Tell them that the share of the limited game time allowed to their top players, will rise from 25% to 40% for the national team, without any further compensation for the club than allowing them to spend more in recruitment (of probably lesser quality substitutes).

See how it goes now with their board and Presidents, even if probably all of them are turning real profits.

Wait for the third test before accusing him of being misleading.

Of the HEALTHY players in the 33 squad, only Brodie McAlister, George Bower, Noah Hotham, ALB and Ruben Love have yet to be selected.

Luke Jacobson and Tyrel Lomax are still injured. No need to risk either veteran as you know what you get with both of them.

All of them could easily play in test 3 off the bench.

No other AB coach has ever selected a squad with 5 rookies with almost no experience.

Hardly conservative or boring.