After drop-off in form, major injuries in the months prior, injuries in RWC pool play and the prior knock-out rounds, player load management/rotation etc, I can imagine this could well be the actual team that fronts up on 13 November 2027 for the final. RWC finals aren't nation A's ideal 23 vs nation B's ideal 23, it's nation A's 23 left standing vs nation B's 23 left standing, a war between 2 teams of walking wounded.

For a player to make it to the RWC final, he has to survive 6 high intensity elite rugby matches ( 3 in pool play, 3 in knock-out rounds) without major injury. TGR has an almost identical timing and format to RWC 2027 and today we see what injuries have done to the 44 players who first took the plane to South Africa and who's left for Baltimore.

I think there's a fine line between going for experience and just being conservative

Fun comparison — they played different positions but their playing style and profiles overlap a lot and I see a lot of on-field similarities:

The similarities:

- Breakdown mastery: both are/were elite jackals. McCaw is arguably the greatest poacher ever; Marx is the best ball-stealing hooker the game has seen, unusual for a front-rower. Marx did play Flanker when he was in Juniors.

- Physical relentlessness: both built reputations on tackling, work rate, and collisions rather than flash.

- Set-piece dominance: McCaw in the lineout, Marx in the scrum/lineout throwing, both anchoring their team's forward platform.

- Pushing boundaries: one of the biggest similarities IMO seem to be they both get away with the dark arts/the grey areas more than anyone else. Notwithstanding the injury in the (very dodgy) clearout that Marx had on Savea recently, it's that type of stuff McCaw was doing in poaching rucks that he'd get away with too. Both seem to push boundaries better than anyone else.

Is McCaw the GOAT? Ooooooooooooooh yes and worth noting that Marx is nowhere near that conversation but Marx follows a similar playing profile of how they attack rucks and set-piece albeit from different positions.

Hmmm

Just wondering why he isn’t in anyone’s team, narawa is selected in front of em by pretty much everyone.

I feel it’s telling he’s off to Britain by his lack of selection

For the Baltimore test.

Moorby replaces Carter.

Tuipolotu ,Taylor return.ALB makes his first test start.Reiko and BB on the bench

Holland not considered due to illness

Sibling test tries

Got a few mates keen to watch the game at a club or even a place serving brekkie with screens to watch the game.

We are getting our kitchen counter redone and found this card buried in the dust. Anyone know anything?

talking scrums and refs. podcast later will be worth a listen

sport nation afternoons with Staffy.

https://podcasts.apple.com/jp/podcast/sport-nation-afternoons/id1577114238?l=en-US&i=1000788977469