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<blockquote data-quote="BPM" data-source="post: 985049" data-attributes="member: 59968">I agree that the selection is irrational, but I&#039;m not sure I follow your logic for 8 being a long term issue?As scotty507 said, Dombrandt is currently a bit &#039;raw&#039; for test rugby but he&#039;s 22 with a season and a half in the pro game. I&#039;m confident he&#039;ll come good.Mercer will also be in the running. I know Eddie seemed to go off him post the Japan game, but he&#039;s too good to ignore from a long term perspective IMO. He has a bit of everything, including a good lineout game which most of other 8s lack. But for injury, he might well have been in the mix.The biggest thing for me is developing a strategy that makes the best of the 8s we have. Billy is basically unique so trying to get others to do what he does (as with Hughes) is a mistake. I&#039;m not a fan of Hughes but I think he was hamstrung by being asked to emulate Billy which isn&#039;t his natural game.My frustration is that it&#039;s a missed opportunity to have looked at viable alternatives, even if it was in training. Unless Ted Hill plays at 8, whoever plays there isn&#039;t going to be much bigger than Simmonds.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BPM, post: 985049, member: 59968"] I agree that the selection is irrational, but I’m not sure I follow your logic for 8 being a long term issue? As scotty507 said, Dombrandt is currently a bit ‘raw’ for test rugby but he’s 22 with a season and a half in the pro game. I’m confident he’ll come good. Mercer will also be in the running. I know Eddie seemed to go off him post the Japan game, but he’s too good to ignore from a long term perspective IMO. He has a bit of everything, including a good lineout game which most of other 8s lack. But for injury, he might well have been in the mix. The biggest thing for me is developing a strategy that makes the best of the 8s we have. Billy is basically unique so trying to get others to do what he does (as with Hughes) is a mistake. I’m not a fan of Hughes but I think he was hamstrung by being asked to emulate Billy which isn’t his natural game. My frustration is that it’s a missed opportunity to have looked at viable alternatives, even if it was in training. Unless Ted Hill plays at 8, whoever plays there isn’t going to be much bigger than Simmonds. [/QUOTE]

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