Ireland Tour of New Zealand 2022

First topic message reminder :

In addition to three tests, Ireland are playing 2 non-test matches against NZ Māori.  Farrell plans to take an expanded squad as a result that will allow him see a few other non-regulars perform. The newer ones may only be required for the 2 NZ Māori matches

Assuming current injuries allow some players to travel, the touring squad will likely include most of the 6N picks plus some more - up to say 42 players.  
Ireland will likely win two of the matches and things will likely go to the third test to decide matters.

Forwards 22
7 Props - Furlong, Porter, Bealham, O’Toole, Loughman?
3 Hookers - Sheehan, Herring, Heffernan?
6 Locks - Ryan, Henderson, Beirne, Baird, Treadwell, J McCarthy?
6 B/rows - VdF, Conan, Coombes, Doris, O’Mahony, Timoney? Prendergast?
Backs 20
4 SH Gibson-Park, Murray, Casey
4 10s Sexton, Carbery, H Byrne?
5 Centres Aki, Henshaw, Ringrose, Hume? Frawley?
7 Back-threes - Keenan, Lowe, Hansen, Lowry? J O’Brien?

Collapse2005 wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Both should have gone though in my view.

Eggchasers Podcast rule: if you say someone should be in a squad, then you also have to drop someone.

You could have dropped any of the 4 10s that were selected. Sexton is better than all of them in my view.

So, pick one to drop! (For instance, if you say Smith, them that implies you'd be OK with the original decision not to select Sexton).

I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

Collapse2005 wrote:I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

I wouldn't really have a strong disagreement with you, whoever you picked. Ultimately, Gatland decided against Sexton, because he thought he might not be up to it physically. That may turn out to be good for Ireland, if it has ended up giving him some more miles on the clock.

Rugby Fan wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

I wouldn't really have a strong disagreement with you, whoever you picked. Ultimately, Gatland decided against Sexton, because he thought he might not be up to it physically. That may turn out to be good for Ireland, if it has ended up giving him some more miles on the clock.

I agree. With all those concussions he is rumoured to have suffered, staying away from the Lions was good for him. Further, regardless of his performances he is closer than most people alive to.....let's just say we have all seen real punch drunk fighters, and to me he could well be one knock away from that.

I enjoy watching him play, but get nervous every time. And if he does take that one hit that puts him on the table, it will be totally inexcusable. I am very happy for Ireland, but the potential cost....

Collapse2005 wrote:I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

Oh holy jaysus. You've just won a test series at home against NZ and you're still talking about the Lions?

New Zealand flag is flying at half mast today


https://i.servimg.com/u/f18/19/86/73/89/fx2cgr10.jpg

The savagery and blame have begun in the land of the long white cloud (and apparently the land of very short tempers).  And by the way I always enjoy when people get overly worked up over a few losses and start to eat their young.  Just go look at the player ratings they gave.  One would think NZ lost by 50.  Only things really missing are (1) Ireland were better because they were better not because we stunk, and (2) How can we get better?

NZ Herald, The Front Page: Arguments for and against sacking All Blacks coach Ian Foster
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/the-front-page-arguments-for-and-against-sacking-all-blacks-coach-ian-foster/JSPO4WOQL5GDGU3XNDS34UJO54/

The Guardian, ‘Worst All Blacks ever’: New Zealand turns on rugby team after Ireland loss
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/17/worst-all-blacks-ever-ireland-loss-brings-scathing-criticism-for-new-zealand-rugby-team

NZ Herald,  Rugby: New Zealand Rugby boss Mark Robinson calls All Blacks home series loss to Ireland 'not acceptable'
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/rugby-new-zealand-rugby-boss-mark-robinson-calls-all-blacks-home-series-loss-to-ireland-not-acceptable/Z243U7DLCOC2RHYZZAFGGGWGFM/

NZ Herald, All Blacks v Ireland: Sean Fitzpatrick says All Blacks were outcoached in series defeat
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/all-blacks-v-ireland-sean-fitzpatrick-says-all-blacks-were-outcoached-in-series-defeat/U3ZF3DB3JSSH355ZIOPLKKNDLU/

Stuff/Rugby Heaven, All Blacks player ratings: Failing side exposed by Ireland in almost every position
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/129296922/all-blacks-player-ratings-failing-side-exposed-by-ireland-in-almost-every-position

Stuff/Rugby Heaven, Why Silver Lake investors should be worried about the All Blacks and rugby
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/300636272/why-silver-lake-investors-should-be-worried-about-the-all-blacks-and-rugby

Whatever happened to emack? Did he finally succumb to his pc dyslexia?

Is Emack Alan Mackie? He was quite an old guy wasnt he? Hope he is ok.

Collapse2005 wrote:Is Emack Alan Mackie? He was quite an old guy wasnt he? Hope he is ok.

That's the one. I always suspect the worst when he goes missing.

Galted wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Is Emack Alan Mackie? He was quite an old guy wasn't he? Hope he is ok.

That's the one.  I always suspect the worst when he goes missing.

Indeed - always wrote an astounding amount of creaky and rumpled sense in lower case.

I always read them to myself in a Morgan Freeman voice for added effect.

No idea what happened. He may not be still with us but I hope he is.

George Carlin wrote:

Galted wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Is Emack Alan Mackie? He was quite an old guy wasn't he? Hope he is ok.

That's the one.  I always suspect the worst when he goes missing.

Indeed - always wrote an astounding amount of creaky and rumpled sense in lower case.

I always read them to myself in a Morgan Freeman voice for added effect.

No idea what happened. He may not be still with us but I hope he is.

I used to read them in a Gollum voice.

IRB rankings updated.

Ireland = No. 1. Congratulations.

Porter doesn't et any ban after being cited. BBC:
'Ireland prop Andrew Porter has avoided a ban after his citing case for a high tackle during his side's Test series-clinching win over New Zealand was dismissed.
Porter was yellow-carded by referee Wayne Barnes following a head-on-head collision with All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick in the second half of Ireland's historic 32-22 victory.
However, match citing commissioner James Sherriff reported the Irish forward, who faced a disciplinary hearing via video link on Tuesday.
Retallick suffered a fractured cheekbone in the incident and is expected to be side-lined for at least six weeks.
An independent panel accepted Porter's argument that while he had committed an act of foul play, the red card threshold had not been met.
"Having considered all the evidence, the independent committee applied World Rugby's Head Contact Process and agreed with the match officials' on-field decision that the player's act of foul play for a breach of Law 9.13 did not meet the red card threshold due to the absorbing nature of the tackle," a World Rugby statement read.
"On that basis, the independent committee deemed the act of foul play did not merit further sanction, and the citing complaint was dismissed."
Saturday's victory in Wellington was just a second-ever win for Ireland in New Zealand and came a week after their first, which squared the series at 1-1.
The result moved Ireland to the top of the world rankings for just the second time since World Rugby launched its rankings system 19 years ago.
Andy Farrell's men go above France, having also broken the 90-point rating mark for the first time, standing on 90.03, with France 0.62 behind.
Ireland previously headed the rankings for a two-week spell in September 2019.'

The findings match with the reasoning given by Barnes, in that it was deemed a passive tackle. I don't agree with how they are going about the reasoning to that but still shows the lack of consistency between different hemispheres (Aus citing officer) and also clarity of the checklists that refs have to go through. I've seen a headline behind a paywall that World Rugby would like to have centrally contracted refs to bring interpretations in line. Have to admit that makes me scratch my head as I thought that would be a priority of WR anyway.

The head contact guidelines do allow a red to be mitigated to a yellow where the tackle is passive. Therefore it does sound like Barnes came to the right on field conclusion. Porter was clearly stationary at the point of impact and was the one who went backwards with Retallicks momentum. Ta’avao by contrast had forward momentum in his tackle on Ringrose and therefore under the guidelines is considered more dangerous. He could be considered unlucky though that the ref didn’t consider that he had very little time to readjust.

Above all it’s a shame that Retallick has a broken jaw so hopefully he recovers well soon.

It should really have been Aki who got cited anyway for swiping that woman’s chicken during the post match celebrations.

The thing about Porter's tackle was he was standing pretty much bolt upright. Retallick is 6 ft 8 and Porter still hit him in the middle of his face with his head.
Unless the New Zealander is able to stop running or avoid Porter's tackle then enormous force is going to be generated when a 6 ft 8, 18 stoner collides with Porter's head, whether he is "absorbing" the tackle or not.
Porter was reckless in how he approached the tackle: no bend at the hips, no attempt to move his head away from the ball carrier's head and so should have received a red, in my opinion.
Anyway a great result for Ireland and world rugby in general. Although, if the AB's do the right thing and sack their coaching staff it may all be different come next year in France.

I agree that Porter was lucky as there was head contact and those incidents can easily result in a red. Porter would have had to jump a foot off the ground to hit Retallick in the head if Retallick wasnt bent forward into contact but the reason Barnes was not incorrect to give a yellow was because the guidelines do state that it can be reduced to yellow if the tackle is passive vs dynamic which it was.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://resources.world.rugby/worldrugby/document/2021/03/10/e597c9c8-e852-4e19-875f-18e02e7f7e24/Head_Contact_Process_EN_v1.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjTo6rR5IX5AhXIi1wKHceeDhoQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3oBG53IDGwqZaxfMOQ2bMn

If I was Farrell I would play a weakened side v SA in Nov with a view to playing the same weakened side against them in the world cup group game in France. If we play our best team v SA especially Sexton they will all be injured or beat up for the quarter final and it probably doesnt matter that much who we play in the quarters as NZ will be much improved out for blood and France are awesome and at home. We could then let out best side ensure we get out of the group by focusing on all the other games. NZ probably the easier bet but Id fancy my chances much more against either of them with a fully fit full A team than a team creaking at the seems missing key players as always seems to be the case at the quarters.

Ireland ranked no1. Wow! I didn’t expect that. I’m actually still a bit shocked at our series win, it does not compute. It’s a weird feeling. Happy and disbelieving.

France should have the no 1 spot though imo

It's a mess. The passive tackle was initially about a tackler falling backwards and soaking up the collision and not simply being knocked backwards by a more powerful person. Barnes was right in how the laws are being interpreted, we saw in the semis, and final of the prem that this was the case but it is an issue for me that these interpretations aren't widely known and released to the public (and citing officer!). For me they've got it wrong in the way they're going about the law, Porter really should have seen red as that challenge was clearly reckless.

Intotouch wrote:Ireland ranked no1. Wow! I didn’t expect that. I’m actually still a bit shocked at our series win, it does not compute. It’s a weird feeling. Happy and disbelieving.

France should have the no 1 spot though imo

I'd have Ireland rightly where they are with little-to-nothing between us and France. As good as France were in the 6N Ireland weren't far off the win without Sexton pulling the strings.
It's tight and precarious at the top but we're there on merit especially after doing that number on the ABs.

Agreed, Id like to think Ireland will beat France at home too in the 6 nations however, that remains to be seen. That will be a massive game for us as France have now won three in a row against us which is pretty bad.

Collapse2005 wrote:Agreed, Id like to think Ireland will beat France at home too in the 6 nations however, that remains to be seen. That will be a massive game for us as France have now won three in a row against us which is pretty bad.

I think Ireland are in a much better place now than where we were away to France in the 6N. On the day we outscored them 3 tries to 2 and in the end were beaten by 2 penalties and that was, as I said, without the talisman at 10.

Pete330v2 wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Agreed, Id like to think Ireland will beat France at home too in the 6 nations however, that remains to be seen. That will be a massive game for us as France have now won three in a row against us which is pretty bad.

I think Ireland are in a much better place now than where we were away to France in the 6N. On the day we outscored them 3 tries to 2 and in the end were beaten by 2 penalties and that was, as I said, without the talisman at 10.

Yeah true, also I have noticed that we conceded one try to France from an exit play where we tries to run it from our own 22 area. The French backrow turned us over at the ruck and scored a try. It seems that from the NZ series we arent using these type of exits as much anymore.

George Carlin wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

Oh holy jaysus. You've just won a test series at home against NZ and you're still talking about the Lions?

Warren Gatland has come out and admitted he is wrong for not selecting Sexton which is good to see as to me it was a massive error of judgement.

https://www.the42.ie/sexton-lions-gatland-5821607-Jul2022/

Collapse2005 wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

Oh holy jaysus. You've just won a test series at home against NZ and you're still talking about the Lions?

Warren Gatland has come out and admitted he is wrong for not selecting Sexton which is good to see as to me it was a massive error of judgement.

https://www.the42.ie/sexton-lions-gatland-5821607-Jul2022/

Hindsight is a great virtue - so they say!

Sexton may have been done had he toured with the Lions - probably to Ireland's venefit that he did not!

That might be right, silver lining.

BigGee wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

Oh holy jaysus. You've just won a test series at home against NZ and you're still talking about the Lions?

Warren Gatland has come out and admitted he is wrong for not selecting Sexton which is good to see as to me it was a massive error of judgement.

https://www.the42.ie/sexton-lions-gatland-5821607-Jul2022/

Hindsight is a great virtue - so they say!

Sexton may have been done had he toured with the Lions - probably to Ireland's venefit that he did not!

Gatland was correct about durability. Sexton got a HIA again, but it was a phantom allegedly. But if we are being correct, Sexton did not prove any durability, as he got blagged into another test. As much as I don’t want to support Cement Head, he was right.

He passed HIA 2 and 3. He only failed HIA 1 after he got a knee in the head, pretty sure that could happen to anyone. Played two and a half tests and won the series as captain.

Sexton has a long list of achievements and memories of his career even without that Lions tour but he's missing just one final achievement. I don't necessarily mean winning the RWC but at the very least, leading Ireland to a semi-final or even final wouldn't be a bad notch to add to his many, many notches.

Pete
You are correct that Sexton passed the second and third hia assessments and played a pivotal role in the series win.
However, he has accumulated a large number of " head knocks" in the last 15 years. It will be interesting to see how many Leinster games he is allowed to start between September and the start of the 6 nations.
I would hazard that he will start the European games, there are 4 before the 6 N's and maybe 3 league games as warm ups to the AI's.

Sexton will go down as a rugby legend for sure. He did participate in two Lions tours playing a pivotal role in each, I'm sure he'll be happy with that.

Pete330v2 wrote:Sexton has a long list of achievements and memories of his career even without that Lions tour but he's missing just one final achievement. I don't necessarily mean winning the RWC but at the very least, leading Ireland to a semi-final or even final wouldn't be a bad notch to add to his many, many notches.

I really don't get the obsession with making a WC semi final. To me going out in a semi final is the same thing as going out in a QF, they're both failures.
The only thing that can top winning a series in NZ is a world Cup win, I always thought the reason why we wanted to win a QF was to go on and make the final, not to just get knocked out in the next round and be content with that.

Collapse2005 wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:I would have taken Sexton, Farrell and Biggar. Russell and Smith no way. Sexton should have been the test starting 10.

Put it this way I dont think its a coincidence that Sexton hasnt lost a series v SH opposition in the last 5 series he has been involved in for Ireland and the Lions including two wins v Aus, two drawn series v NZ and one win.

Oh holy jaysus. You've just won a test series at home against NZ and you're still talking about the Lions?

Warren Gatland has come out and admitted he is wrong for not selecting Sexton which is good to see as to me it was a massive error of judgement.

https://www.the42.ie/sexton-lions-gatland-5821607-Jul2022/

He hasn’t admitted any such thing. “I still probably ask myself now whether it was the right decision to leave him at home.”

He doesn’t provide the answer to his self-questioning.

Its as good as you are going to get from Gatland. Reading between the lines I think he knows it was a horrible error of judgement.

Farrell is only contracted up to the world cup. I am sure there are some in the English RFU that see Farrell as the next England head coach. Should the IRFU renew Farrell's contract for another four years now?

They probably should. One of the best coaches around now.

After the world cup the 4 coaches that will be chased after will be:

Farrell.Ireland will probably (depending on results at the WC) want to keep him but I think he will want to move on.

Edwards: He will want a top job. Pretty much every team would want him.

Robertson assuming foster isn't sacked sooner will be offered the NZ job along with every other available job that's open

And my left field option
O'Gara. Ireland will obviously want him but I can see all of the home nations going in for him (and I think he would be interested in coaching England or France.)

Speaking of coaches, it looks like Brad Mooar and John Plumtree have become the fall guys for the Ireland series and been sacked by the ABs. Current Crusaders coach Jason Ryan comes in to coach the forwards with Greg Feek who was lucky to survive. Schmidt oficially begins his off field role as selector with some responsibility for analysis, strategy and attack. Not surprised he isnt taking on a more hands on role given how much being Ireland head coach took out of him but I do feel the ABs could make gains on dicipline from Schmidt.

I don't see Farrell going back to England. With all the previous baggage and his experience with the press, I don't think it will be that appealing to him.


There's also the Owen situation. It would be awkward for both especially with Owen getting on in years.


Then you have the carrot of the Ireland job. He's built his own side which has taken time, time where he might not get with England. He knows the players, staff and the whole ireland system. The core of the team is young besides one or two players and there's another wave of talent coming through so the potential to get better is there.


On the other hand he is English and might want to coach his son and will have great resources.


I think he will stay after the world cup. Maybe Shaun Edwards for England?

Why would he go back to England?
I agree they treated him like crap, but wouldn't it be his nature to come back to show them they were wrong?
Would be funny if he brought Lancaster in as his assistant

carpet baboon wrote:After the world cup the 4 coaches that will be chased after will be:

Farrell.Ireland will probably (depending on results at the WC) want to keep him but I think he will want to move on.

Edwards: He will want a top job. Pretty much every team would want him.

Robertson assuming foster isn't sacked sooner will be offered the NZ job along with every other available job that's open

And my left field option
O'Gara. Ireland will obviously want him but I can see all of the home nations going in for him (and I think he would be interested in coaching England or France.)

It might be to early for O'Gara to consider international rugby. He's got a contract at La Rochelle until 2024 and I think he'd like a crack at Munster before an international job.

The other three you are spot on with. Borthwick may well have some offers as well.

Fantastic set of tour results - now the hard work begins to both maintain results but deepen the squad.
We have gone to previous World Cups an injury or two from crashing out - that could still easily happen.

By my calculations we have the following World Cup ready:
1 LH, 1 TH, 3 Hookers
3 Locks, 4 Backrowers
2 SH, 1 FH, 3 Centres, 2 Back three players

We need to find time to give serious game time to the following:
Bealham and O'Toole at TH, McCarthy at Lock, Coombes and Timoney in the backrow
Hume in the centre, Baloucoune, Stockdale and Lowry in the back three.

Whilst Furlong and Sexton are the biggest worries LH actually might prove the bigger problem.
Fine players though they have been been I have grave doubts about Healy and Kilcoyne.
Fly half is simple - Sexton is injured Irelands hopes disappear, Carberry cannot come close (to be fair who can)

formerly known as Sam wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:After the world cup the 4 coaches that will be chased after will be:

Farrell.Ireland will probably (depending on results at the WC) want to keep him but I think he will want to move on.

Edwards: He will want a top job. Pretty much every team would want him.

Robertson assuming foster isn't sacked sooner will be offered the NZ job along with every other available job that's open

And my left field option
O'Gara. Ireland will obviously want him but I can see all of the home nations going in for him (and I think he would be interested in coaching England or France.)

It might be to early for O'Gara to consider international rugby. He's got a contract at La Rochelle until 2024 and I think he'd like a crack at Munster before an international job.

The other three you are spot on with. Borthwick may well have some offers as well.

Forgot about borthwick. He will be high on a lot of shopping lists.

Your probably right about O'Gara, but I could see him taking an international job if the offer was right.

I think the RFU should splash some cash and bring in Farrell Edwards and borthwick as co-head coaches.

They would either win everything or spend every coaching session beating 7 bells out of each other

carpet baboon wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:After the world cup the 4 coaches that will be chased after will be:

Farrell.Ireland will probably (depending on results at the WC) want to keep him but I think he will want to move on.

Edwards: He will want a top job. Pretty much every team would want him.

Robertson assuming foster isn't sacked sooner will be offered the NZ job along with every other available job that's open

And my left field option
O'Gara. Ireland will obviously want him but I can see all of the home nations going in for him (and I think he would be interested in coaching England or France.)

It might be to early for O'Gara to consider international rugby. He's got a contract at La Rochelle until 2024 and I think he'd like a crack at Munster before an international job.

The other three you are spot on with. Borthwick may well have some offers as well.

Forgot about borthwick. He will be high on a lot of shopping lists.

Your probably right about O'Gara, but I could see him taking an international job if the offer was right.

I think the RFU should splash some cash and bring in Farrell Edwards and borthwick as co-head coaches.

They would either win everything or spend every coaching session beating 7 bells out of each other

Borthwick isn't really the scraps at training type of coach. That's why Tigers kept Brett Deacon on. Not sure he'd take a job share either. He was Eddie's assistant at first Japan and then England, he's done that apprenticeship. He wanted to be the top man somewhere so he went to Tigers and then turned down the Lions job in the summer to work on that project. The Tigers CEO has made it clear that whilst she won't stand in the way of Borthwick going to England if they offer him the top job she won't be so accommodating with any other nation, the word compensation will feature heavily in those conversations.

Farrell and Edwards as a combination might work well. Cockers is already there as well, now that would be combination for a training ground punch up, before the players even got involved.

Everyone namechecks Shaun Edwards from the French coaching set-up but, presumably, Galthié and the other members of his team, including Ibanez, Labit (attack), Ghezal (lineout), Servat (scrum), have enhanced their reputations. More so, if they go on to win the World Cup.

Language is potentially a barrier, though Ibanez certainly speaks English. Japan once employed a Frenchman to coach the national football team, so it wouldn't be insuperable.

Farrell extends his contract.

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2022/07/29/andy-farrell-extends-contract-to-2025/

Good news

So as Farrell has extended his contract my wild unfounded guess will be ROG as the next Wales coach.

That would be entertaining

carpet baboon wrote:So as Farrell has extended his contract my wild unfounded guess will be ROG as the next Wales coach.

That would be entertaining

I think they might stick with Pivac post world cup. O'Gara has a contract until summer of 2024 it I remember rightly so it might be there's a change for him then.