Caolán Scully

I think the South African teams in particular probably offered the most pure test of rugby in the Northern Hemisphere between physical packs and electric backlines.

But ultimately, if you're trying to sell a narrative, and rugby is always trying to sell a narrative, it's easier if you are the, you know, head of promotions at Bristol Bears to say, right,

we're going to try and sell tickets for Munster to come to town on a Friday night.

Well, the Munster fans can fly into Bristol.

They could take a half day at work and they'd still be there in time for the match.

That's a hell of a lot easier.

And I'm sure that's something you would have faced in Super Rugby as well, where there is an element where proximity can lead to something.

Now, it's not guaranteed.

And again, Super Rugby will be the test of that, Premiership as well.

But there's certainly an element that we're all looking over our shoulder and wondering,

Is this going to be where we end up going down?

At the moment, I'm not fully against it, to be honest.

I'd nearly lean in favour of it as much as I support this African team's being in the competition.

Yeah, it would appear, now I'm not in the rooms and I don't have as many contacts as, say, some Leinster-based sports reporters, but it would appear that an impasse was reached between James Lowe, Leinster and the IRFU and no contract was signed and now he's on his way off to Japan as we prepare for a World Cup.

I think what's going to be really interesting is Andy Farrell names his Nations Championship squad on Wednesday.

does he pick James Lowe?

Because famously, probably the most high profile player last to leave Ireland was Simon Zeebo in 2018.

He announced that in February or January time, maybe a bit before it.

And in the next squad, Joe Smith left him out because he wasn't going to be around next season.

Why bother?