The massive compliment Joe Marler paid to a teenage Sale tighthead

So you should be wondering what needs to be added to make that happen. Nobody would argue with picks like Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, JVDF, JGP, Ringrose, Keenan and Lowe.

Outside those it is conjecture, and sadly you’re too thick to see it.

For example, Kelleher may be a better edge forward than George. Is he a better lineout thrower, or a better leader to have on the pitch at the finish of games? Absolutely not. James Ryan has been pretty quiet for the better part of a couple of seasons now.

Jack Conan is a good number 8 among a lot of other good forwards in Dublin, Aaron Wainwright and Jac Morgan have been keeping the Welsh pack afloat ever since the last RWC.

You’d need a much broader rugby mind and upbringing to know it.

Of course not, as only an idiot would drop an entire cohort of players due to one lost game now, wouldn’t they?

And here is the root of your problem in a nutshell. They cannot be ‘dropped’ when they were never in the squad in the first place.

You are the ‘ass’ in ‘assume’.

Leinster players do not pre-select themselves and they are not automatic choices. There, that’s your rugby ABC for today. Rest of the alphabet to follow when you grow up.

Earl played 10 minutes or so at 12 vs Wales because England ran out of backs subs, and Pollock hasn’t played there at all at top level. It’s more than just a pinch to say he and Earl can cover 12 and wing, it’s madness.

I’m not sure James Ryan is a first choice for Leinster now either. They have RG and Diarmuid Mangan looks like a helluva p[ayer too. I recall James took a lot of head knocks one year and maybe that knocked some of the stuffing outta him?

Johnny S has always functioned like an onfield coach so I don’t anticipate many probs of adjustment for him, The only issue might be that he is so close to a lot of the players in the squad, hasn’t had the chance to establish some distance from them?

In the context of the article and the comment at the head of this thread, performances of national and club teams are not very instructive.

Also … there is no Law of Averages.

Ireland are strong and transitioning to a new generation. England are ranked 6th, and fast improving. We all know that. There is no English team that is a shadow test team, as Leinster is in Ireland. We also know that.

It suggests we should be looking at individual performances, and that drawing conclusions from games between the teams is not particularly instrtuctive.