Lions tour to Australia

If Autumn tours are as important as the WC why use them to blood new players rather than blooding them in the WC? How many debutants did Ireland use in the last WC? Pointing out that SA travelled with a lot of older players is not making any kind of point about this. Teams don't send B squads on these tours, the question is what they are trying to get out of them. Are they a failure if the don't grand slam, no I don't think so.

Response to a comment from someone about Ireland going over the top when winning tour games when the WC really matters. darkened_scrum responded in classic boards non debate style comparing that to saying losing autumn games helps win the World Cup. For me there's merit to the argument that SA/NZ have a completely different perspective to these tours than they do the WC. They simply aren't as important and are seen as an arena to develop new styles of play and players (not dissimilar to us, they're where we debut new players) For us winning these games consistently shows we have improved enormously over the last 15 years, but the WC is the top table and that's the ultimate priority for SH teams. Less so for us perhaps, due to the significance of the 6N, etc. These games are still massive for fans and budgets.

What age are you? Have you seen the list of ABs who have debuted in Dublin? A good portion of the double World Cup winning team played their first match in Landsdowne.

I mean a break at provincial level where they are playing so many minutes. Those guys have been putting in huge shifts and it's at provincial level but Munster are struggling with form and Leinster have to win something this year. As you say huge pride and money in being a Lion but that is not the IRFU/Provinces bailiwick. He should certainly go… and play.

well when the defensive system is altered to accommodate prendergast standing out on the wing..…

not fiction at all. I implore you to watch the games back and you'll see for yourself. I saw it first hand at the game in thomond. when leinster are defending multiple phase play, he's out on the wing.

Whoever starts for Ireland in the 6Ns is going to be in strong contention for the 3rd OH spot, presuming Farrell takes 3. They'd be competing with the English backups, or Owen Farrell at a stretch. I'd be shocked if the Irish OH isn't taken tbh, unless Farrell decides he wants to take a player like Frawley who can cover multiple positions as the 3rd.

You also have to take into account that 10-15 years ago we were not the threat we are now. NZ could possibly rotate or try out new players then with little fear of losing. They wouldn't do it now. Same way SA could rotate against Wales this year. Horses for courses. Everytime we face a southern hemisphere side they will pick their strongest 23. The same with France. Currently England/Wales may get a different approach. The same way we rotate against Fiji.

Ritchie McCaw has been retired for nearly 10 years now. Cmon.

Neither of them are at Tadhg's level. Itoje has actually even regressed a bit and Ryan is better than McCarthy. Ryan was off form for a little while but he's back to his best again.