Completely agree that Lawes can play six and Curry can play 8. But we know exactly what they bring. We’re playing Tonga. We’re going to win easily. If we get to the 6N or the RWC or even just the “bigger” autumn internationals and one of them is injured we’ve wasted the chance to give the likes of Dombrandt some valuable international game time. I appreciate the mantra of “you’re always a better player out of the team” but these games should be about broadening our pool of internationally experienced players should we ever need to dip into it.
30% of that squad is new (or basically new). We'd learn nothing if most of it was. We're not throwing out 50% of the team, so we don't need replacements for 50% of them upto speed. We need the few players that'll potentially be pushing for starting berths in a year or so, and others targeting the bench, to be familiar with the players around them and the system. Sending in a completely fresh team will do nothing.
Smith probably would have been starting had he actually trained, but it seems really harsh to throw a player in, especially a 10 like him, who needs to know what to expect from his team mates, into a game without developing any sort of rapport.
It may also only be Tonga this week, but there are a lot bigger games coming up, against battle hardened teams, so we need to try and get our test players upto speed as well.
Yes, the ABs have put out a largely 2nd string (though only sort of, many of them have been backups/picks in the past) against Italy, but they're largely at the end of their international season and have had all the time in training and in matches to get things upto speed.
Always a Wasp
