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Thought it'd be interesting to see what pundits see their country's 2027 squad might look like while we wait for the weekend?
South Africa 33 for me
(I've cut out forwards who'd be over 34 and backs over 32 just as a cut off point that makes sense to my mind)
Props (5)
Kitshoff (35) / Nche (32) / Thomas du Toit (32) / Wilco Louw (33) / Mchunu (27)
Hooker (3)
Marx (33) / Grobbelaar (29) / Dweba (31)
Lock (4)
Etzebeth (35) / Snyman (32) / Dan Du Plessis (32) / R Nortje (29)
Loose Forward (6)
Smith (34) / Van Staden (32) / JL Du Plessis (33) / Wiese (31) / Roos (27) / Louw (28)
Halves (5)
Jaden Hendrikse (27) / Williams (31) / Pollard (33) / Libbok (30) / Jordan Hendrikse (26)
Centers (4)
Moodie (24) / Van Wyk (26) / Feinberg-Mngomezulu (25) / Julius (23)
Outside Backs (6)
Willemse (29) / Gelant (32) / Arendse (31) / Fassi (29) / Davids (28) / Kolbe (33)
Very tempted to increase my dealine for backs. Am, Esterhuizen, Kriel all 33 in 2027. I've only allowed myself some leeway for Pollard, Kolbe, Etzebeth and Kitshoff.
Average age 30.06 yo. as opposed to the current 33 man squad @ 29.96. So only an increase of a month or so.
Losing 3/4 of those players will hurt, but come on, Halfpenny, Lydiate, Anscombe, Thomas shouldnt have been in this squad lol.Applying your criteria (32/34 age limit) for other teams, the one to suffer most seem to be Wales and Scotland:
Halfpenny, Biggar, Faletau, Lydiate, L. Williams, Anscombe, H. Thomas, North and Francis won't be there anymore.
Same with Scotland with Nel, Gray, McInally, Gilchrist, Harris, Watson, Russell, Price and H. Jones.
Both unions will struggle most imo to replace those players. (Although some of them still might be in the boat in 2027, North for example)
25 caps, Reffell has maybe 10 or so? He will struggle on contract negotiations without returning to Wales.What's the rules on Wales selection now?
Is Reffell expected go to a welsh region now? What can Wales do in terms of selecting the Exeter welsh players?
Honestly in the prem Wales have loads of good players who are in the prem. Next season is prob a good time at trying to get the players who are welsh qualified but Borthwick doesn't want.
Bristol hooker Will Capon is very promising IMO would like England to look at him, would be good depth behind Lake.
Iwan Stephens and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso a couple others
I'm surprised Curry is so young. That does look like a good average age. Only thing that I'd change is Ben Loader is South African now. Once you come to the Cape you will find leaving difficult and will fit right in with what the Stormers want. And we will need to find more arrows like for the Bok bow if bloody Steward is going to be around for the forseeable future oy vey!Ok for me I'm going with
Loosehead: Genge (32), Rodd (27) (Baxter)
Hooker: Dan (26), Frost (30), Langdon (30) (Riley)
Tighthead: Stuart (31), Heyes (28), Harper (27) (Fasogbon)
Locks: Martin (26), Chessum (27), Itoje (32), Isiekwe (29) (Lewis Chessum)
Back row: Curry (29), Earl (29), Pearson (27), Mercer (30), Tom Willis (29), Jack Willis (30) (Ilione or CCS)
Scrum Half: Mitchell (30), Quirke (26), JVP (26) (Bracken)
Fly half: Marcus Smith (28), Barton (26) (Bailey)
Centre: Kelly (26), Lawrence (24), Marchant (31), Joseph (25) (Woodward)
Outside back: Steward (26), Arundell (24), Loader (28), OHC (24), Hodge (27), Murley (28) (Cleaves)
Put some potential bolters in brackets
Applying your criteria (32/34 age limit) for other teams, the one to suffer most seem to be Wales and Scotland:
Halfpenny, Biggar, Faletau, Lydiate, L. Williams, Anscombe, H. Thomas, North and Francis won't be there anymore.
Same with Scotland with Nel, Gray, McInally, Gilchrist, Harris, Watson, Russell, Price and H. Jones.
Both unions will struggle most imo to replace those players. (Although some of them still might be in the boat in 2027, North for example)
Ireland might be a push. 2031 we will see lots of good talent at prime.How many teams actually seem to have good proper trophy challenging squads coming through. Feels like only South Africa, New Zealand, France and Ireland?