England V Wales - 29th May

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

There's no definitive evidence at this point, but I do feel as though Daly brings more of a game breaking quality off the bench. I think I feel that way because when I see Barrett in broken field play, usually late on in games, he does remind me so much of Daly. And Barrett is the best 23 in the world for mine.

Only a small detail, but Barrett's always been a 22... During the RWC the All Blacks had Barrett 22 (Covering 10 or 15), SBW 23 (Covering 12)

 

[Timbo]

Oh, fair enough. He only seldom comes on at 10 though. Seems that way anyway.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Oh, fair enough. He only seldom comes on at 10 though. Seems that way anyway.

I think we can expect it more now though. Hansen was never going to replace Carter, but now that he's gone I think it can be expected that he'll take off Cruden or Sopoaga for Barrett potentially.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

In theory you'd love to give second choice players starts in less important games, but in reality at international level all games are important, and even the "lesser" games (against Italy for eg) most coaches decide that continuity / points difference are more important than giving players a run out.

The All Blacks manage to do produce backups with 30 caps because a) the depth of player base they produce is phenomenal and b) they're so much better than everyone else that playing a second choice matters less, but the rest of us mere mortals have to fight tooth and nail for every international win and can't risk second-stringers most of the time.

Actually, at international level injuries probably account for a relatively decent level of opportunity opened up to second-stringers/potential first choices even without active decisions to drop players.

Scotland may not longer be whipping boys to the same degree but Italy are definitely a side you can stick a 2nd string team out unless you need to get a huge points difference.

 

[Every Time Ref]

Scotland may not longer be whipping boys to the same degree but Italy are definitely a side you can stick a 2nd string team out unless you need to get a huge points difference.

You can but, a lot of coaches will still take the view that with limited game time (compared to a domestic league) continuity takes precedence. Anyway, it's only one game in the calendar. England's next 12 months of fixtures are:

3 tests Vs Australia
Autumn internationals - SA, Fiji, Argentina, Australia
Usual 6N fixtures

That's 12 matches against 9 opposition, I'd say pretty standard for a year. Only Italy and Fiji are you not taking a big risk to not put your strongest available side, so two chances in 12 months for players to be blooded / first picks to be rested.

Edit: And that's in a year without the All Blacks

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

You can but, a lot of coaches will still take the view that with limited game time (compared to a domestic league) continuity takes precedence. Anyway, it's only one game in the calendar. England's next 12 months of fixtures are:

3 tests Vs Australia
Autumn internationals - SA, Fiji, Argentina, Australia
Usual 6N fixtures

That's 12 matches against 9 opposition, I'd say pretty standard for a year. Only Italy and Fiji are you not taking a big risk to not put your strongest available side, so two chances in 12 months for players to be blooded / first picks to be rested.

Edit: And that's in a year without the All Blacks

And is there really any point putting out 2nd choices against a team like Italy? If you're trying to give them a chance to prove themselves, then they're obviously going to appear to be better when playing a poorer team, so it's going to give you a biased view.

 

[Peat]

Its good to let them learn what test match rugby's about in a fairly pressure free environment. They can get all their jitters and excitement out of the way without risking the match.

Plus a few excited players can put a bit of oomph into the game as, lets be honest, its not unusual to see those games go through long spells where the Italians desperately don't want a game to break out and the English can't be bothered to really force it as they know it'll happen sooner or later.

 

[Every Time Ref]

All the above is why I'm in favour of Eddie's incremental change approach, which seems to be working well. Bringing me back to the original JJ/Daly question - if keeping changes to a minimum, no point wasting one on a player who isn't even playing especially badly