I don't really see what France, England and New Zealand are doing as being relevant. Their playing pool is infinitely vaster than ours and therefore they can jettison players if they wish, we simply don't have that luxury.backrower8 wrote: ↑January 21st, 2022, 2:43 pmObservations on age, don't translate to obsession with youth old boy
Meanwhile in France, England, New Zealand....but we'll do what we do...it's such a winning formula!
So are you comfortable with possibly having 1 in 5 players aged 34+ and for 4 of the 7 to be backs, with 2 of the 7 our 'flying' wingers?
Of the 7 who will be mainly 34-38 in late 2023...who do you think are currently performing to international standard and do you see any potential for fall-off in the next 20 months?
Or is it all a case of "nothing to see here"?
Andrew Conway will have just turned 32, hardly decrepit? Peter O'Mahoney will be 33 when the tournament kicks off, Ritchie McCaw was two months off his 35th birthday when he captained NZ to the '15 world cup. And let's face it, there's tons of old props knocking about the place. Gnarled, or grizzled, are usually adjectives rolled out.
Sexton is a concern, physically. In fairness, has been for about 5 years. He's still the best ten in europe though. So what ya gonna do?