Rest for the Summer?

The season is coming to a close in Europe, which means the Summer Tours are only a few weeks away. Each team knows where they stand after the ferociously close Six Nations, and know what they need to work on. The biggest question facing all the top coaches was the choice between taking your top players or resting them ahead of the World Cup cycle which starts in September. Once the season starts again at the end of the year the international players will get no rest for nigh on twenty-one months. Just let that sink in. A physically exhausting, high impact sport with no rest for nearly two years. No one-month recuperation to let your body fix itself, instead, your summer will most likely be spent in the baking heat or in extreme altitude pushing yourself beyond your limit to try and make that 30 man squad come September.

To that end some coaches have opted to leave behind their best players this summer, allowing those who played in the Lions series, and those who they know what they can do, to get a longer rest and decent pre-season. Others have decided the opposite, a chance to build some momentum against the Southern Hemisphere heavyweights, a chance to right the wrongs that appeared in February and March. So which is the better option?

Stander and Murray probably thanking Joe Schmidt for a break this summer after their heroics last summer.

The prevailing opinion by pundits, ex-players, and coaches in the rugby world is that resting the stars is the better option. Players like Alun Wyn Jones and Jonny Sexton play a lot of rugby and churn out top-notch performances on the regular. That is both mentally and physically exhausting, and as much as players say they want to play every week, they definitely look forward to having the chance to recover in the summer. Granted even if they went on the summer tour's they'd still have a month off as per their contract, but you can't help but think after the Lions tour 12 months ago they have had a long season with minimal rest.

I wonder how Alun Wyn Jones took the news he was to
be rested this summer. He's a scary man.

So plenty of positives to resting your stars after last year - in the case of the Home Nations - and looking ahead to 2019. But that doesn't mean coaches can just go around dropping all their big names in one go and take 36 test rookies south. Against the quality of opposition, they'd face a huge risk of moral damaging results. Take the example of Gatland - the elder statesman within Europe's coaches - leaving Alun Wyn Jones behind, leaving Dan Biggar behind, leaving Sam Warburton behind. But he still takes George North, Scott Williams, and Bradley Davies allowing him to sprinkle much-needed test match experience across the field. The rest of the squad is filled out with young talent and second choices you get a chance to stake a claim for the starting position.

As such Gatland - and the rest who've followed his lead - gives his team a strong chance of winning games, as well as finding out what his squad players can do, giving them test match experience, and putting the pressure on his first choice to up their game during the 18/19 season.

Owen Farrell is going to be leading England this summer,
instead of getting a long break. Right call?

So if this is so obvious, why has Eddie Jones chosen to not rest his Lions' stars? The short answer is that after the worst finish England have ever achieved in the Six Nations he needs to rebuild momentum and most importantly win in South Africa. The much vaunted England vs New Zealand came is approaching this autumn and he knows he needs his team at peak ability to stand any chance of defeating the World Champions. So Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, and Mako Vunipola all travel despite playing a horrendous amount this season. Yes, he's still taken some fringe players - not to mention the appearance of Brad Shields from Wellington - but how many opportunities they will get is yet to be seen with the incumbents on the tour.

There is an argument to be had about squad depth vs first team quality to be discussed ahead of the World Cup, but that is possibly a question to address during the Autumn and next Six Nations, not as early as this summer. Personally, I come down on the side of Gatland, rather than Eddie Jones for this summer. Victories are important, yes, but if those victories cost you the ability to trust your second choice players in a World Cup knock-out game then were they worth it?

What's your opinion do you think that the national team should always select the best possible players and team for every game? Or do the top players deserve an extended rest and the back ups a chance to show what they can do?