When the Six Nations starts we’ll all enjoy picking and poking over team selection and tactics, how the benches have been used and how the coaches have drawn on all their nous to get the results they need. But one thing you won’t hear much about may end up being one of the most important factors of all in deciding the championship – the depth chart.
Every nation will have a spreadsheet with each position on it and then the first choice, second choice, third choice and so on. Often it’s also colour-coded red, amber and green – a “RAG” depth chart. Green would mean world class, amber international class and red club class. You want as many green and ambers as possible and it’s a good rule of thumb that a side with real aspirations of winning a Six Nations or certainly a Rugby World Cup would need at least five or more players in that green category.
Written by Ben Ryan
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2019/jan/31/ireland-six-nations-strength-in-depth-ben-ryan under the title “Depth charts show way to Six Nations title and could give Ireland the edge | Ben Ryan”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
