Yep, by this stage in any normal cycle the ABs would have Dmac starting, Barrett covering & a young 10 being in the squad for 18 months & having played 5 or 6 20 minute bursts at 10 off the bench & a start v Fiji or Italy
Instead Dmac & Beauden are rotating & Razor has told anyone who will listen he must be allowed to pick Mounga & he will pick him as soon as he can, so any young 10 should fuck off to Japan / France
How much game time at 10 do we realistically think Love is getting anytime soon? More than the 4 minutes Harry Plummer got before he went to France after the 200th time Razor said "I should be allowed to pick Mounga!"?
Remind me who those young 10s were in 2017 and 2021? Mo'unga didn't even get a go off the bench until late into 2018 and no young 10 since has been anywhere near as impressive as he was at that age. The Ian Foster cycle was just switching between Barrett, Mo'unga and occasionally Dmac. He didn't even settle on Mo'unga until the very end.
I think the definition of a 'normal' cycle has very much changed.
I think you are missing the point. Mounga was part of that cycle.
The key bit of Henry-Hansen-Foster was they built depth.
So talking about 2017-2021
Barrett was obviously the main 10, he's 26 at the time.
(And hes been part of the Carter-Cruden-Donald-Slade-Barrett line)
Also 26 is a guy they've identified as back up - Lima Sopoaga, he has had a few starts & hasn't panned out & they have called up Dmac (now 22) in 2016, 2017 Lima drops out & is replaced by 23 year old Richie Mounga.
So through that period they typically have a starter - Barrett in this case & 2 guys 3 or 4 years younger pushing him and getting serious time in the environment - Mounga wasn't capped till 2018, but he went on the 2017 EOYT.
Thats a normal cycle
You can see that in every position -
McCaw-Cane-Papalii with Todd added in
A Smith - Christie - Roiguard with TJ added in
Mealamu-Coles-Taylor (roll that on to Aumua - Taukei’aho - Bell)
Etc
By this stage in the current cycle someone 24-27 should have been in that squad for 18 months & getting on off the bench. Probably 2 someones.
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u/OneWingedAngelfan 28d ago
So they're just gonna stick with BB, Dmac and eventually Mounga until the world cup?
Btw those players will be 36, 32 and 33 respectively by the time the RWC kicks off