Wales' back-row selection for the summer tour of South Africa has been overtaken by the reasons behind Jac Morgan's omission.
Wayne Pivac claimed Morgan needed to put on size over the off-season and get stronger in the contact area, despite boasting more turnovers than any other player in the URC this season. Were the comments made about Rebekah Vardy, you sense it'd be the warped court sketches of Pivac, and not Wayne Rooney, that would be going viral on social media right now.
While it's not defamatory, it's certainly scorched the earth in the eyes of many Welsh fans. The court of public opinion is firmly against Pivac on that front, with Sian Lloyd, the United Kingdom's longest-serving female weather forecaster, claiming she could do a better job on social media. Welsh rugby's never dull, after all.
Read more: Wayne Pivac tells Jac Morgan he needs to get bigger and stronger as he drops him from Wales squad
But beyond those comments on Morgan - and his omission in general - the back-row selection for South Africa is certainly an interesting one. Three of the six back-rows named are individuals who have largely made up the first-choice selection this season.
Taulupe Faletau is nailed on at the back of the scrum, while Josh Navidi is the go-to man on the blindside when fit. And while Taine Basham dropped out of the side at the end of the Six Nations, he's largely been the man to wear the seven jersey in the past 12 months.
The three beyond them - Dan Lydiate, Tommy Reffell and James Ratti - are a slightly more random grouping. The first of the three boats 68 Test caps at the age of 34. The latter two have yet to win any.
It's arguably something of an eclectic mix. But does it offer any signs as to where Pivac is heading in the next 15 months, with the World Cup in France on the horizon?
Well, in many ways, it does and it doesn't. There's some hints about what Pivac feels he needs to get the best out of a gameplan that hasn't really taken off yet, but it's still a little muddled in places - which becomes more apparent when you look at the players overlooked.
Let's start with the selection of Lydiate. The mid Walian is not long back from a lengthy knee injury suffered on his return to Test rugby last year.
Having been rewarded for his form with a recall for the Six Nations clash with Ireland last year, there's probably an element of Pivac wanting to see this summer what he was robbed of witnessing last year. All throughout Pivac's time in charge, the sense has been that Wales need a big, physical blindside - hence the fascination with a second-row/back-row hybrid packing down at six.
Naturally, the best option there remains Navidi - but injuries have meant he's no longer guaranteed to be fit. Ross Moriarty is another solid option on the blindside when it comes to bringing that bulk Pivac needs for the rest of the gameplan to function, but again injuries haven't been kind to him in recent years.
Lydiate is the archetypal blindside in that respect. Tackles all day long, having won the 2012 Six Nations player of the championship for chopping the ankles of all before him, while he does the other grunt work with the relish you'd expect from someone raised on a Radnorshire hill farm.
Even his carrying, something he's long been derided for, is quietly effective rather than eye-catching. He may not make many metres after contact, but his ball presentation is an underrated asset. Given Wales' issues with clearing out among the front-five, that's a handy trait to have.
But at 34, some would question whether he's the right choice? Shouldn't Pivac be building for the future? Well, without delving into Gareth Jenkins-esque 'Judge me on the World Cup' vibes, if Pivac believes Lydiate can play a part in France next year, he shouldn't be too bothered about building towards the future.
That's not to say there aren't younger options who merited selection. James Botham must be wondering quite what he has to do to earn a place in the squad.
On paper, the Cardiff flanker seems perfect for Pivac's Wales. Capable of playing across the back-row, he possesses all the traits you'd want in a flanker.
Handy over the ball, strong in defence, a decent carrier both in the tight and the wider channels and, crucially, strong at clearing out, he's pretty similar to Navidi - who is often the difference between Wales' game functioning or not. So his absence from the last few Welsh squads is certainly surprising.
The Dragons' Harrison Keddie has been a beacon of consistency at Rodney Parade, shining in countless defeats for Dean Ryan's men, but while Pivac noted he'd been mentioned in discussions, it felt like little more than a non-starter to be honest.
And then there's the whole hybrid second-row/back-row that Pivac and Gethin Jenkins have gone to great lengths to espouse. Seb Davies has been the go-to man there - virtually a mainstay of Pivac's squads as he bounces between lock and blindside - while Christ Tshiunza looks another one fit for that role.
However, while Tshiunza misses out through injury, Davies' absence isn't enforced - making it all the more puzzling. Suddenly, Pivac has decided to pick specialists across the back-row. Has he abandoned the hybrid trend that Jenkins previously insisted was boosting their selection and defensive options? We'll just have to wait and see.
The six jersey has moved around more than any other under Pivac - with 10 different players pulling it on across the 27 matches so far. Again, that's due to Navidi's fitness, but if Lydiate isn't the man for the next 15 months, what's to stop it moving around some more?
Moving onto the openside, Tommy Reffell finally gets his reward for a fine season at Leicester Tigers. He's undoubtedly deserving of a place, but the omission of Morgan remains contentious.
Taine Basham, despite a startling ascent in Test rugby, arguably isn't the form seven at the minute, but he retains his place. Part of that is due to explosive ball-carrying. He's not as adept at the breakdown on either side of the ball as Morgan, Reffell or Ellis Jenkins - another one bizarrely out in the cold after paying the price for the Dublin debacle at the start of the Six Nations - but he carries relentlessly into contact.
Now that's fine if that's what you want, but the comments on Morgan's size and physicality over the ball are strange when that's not really what is marking Basham out as a starter. Again, it's all a little muddled in this department - with Morgan and Reffell having been previously overlooked for not suiting Wales' style.
Morgan came in, looked the part and is now out of the picture, just like Jenkins returned from injury, looked the part with a world-class performance against the Springboks in the autumn and is now not in the frame. Granted, Jenkins is struggling for minutes at the Arms Park, so you can't point to his club form like the consistently excellent Morgan.
But this scattergun pattern means you wouldn't be surprised if Reffell didn't reappear in the autumn - even if he took to Test rugby like a duck to water in South Africa. Right now, it's a little hard to understand what Wales want from their openside.
When Justin Tipuric is fit, the answer is 'everything'. Lineout option, midfield carrier, wide channel linkman, second receiver and playmaker, defensive leader and jackal threat.
When he's not there, it feels like it's explosive carrying and punching holes that comes ahead of breakdown nous. But when Wales look towards players with a little more jackal expertise, they tend to look better for it - whenever Wales turned to Morgan during the Six Nations, for example.
At the tail of the scrum, two men have largely dominated the No. 8 jersey under Pivac - Faletau and Aaron Wainwright. With the latter injured, Ratti offers similar traits to those two - athletic, dynamic and capable of busting through tackles and getting into open spaces.
It's a selection that makes perfect sense, just as it did earlier in the year. However, during the Six Nations, Ratti did little more than hold tackle bags. You'd hope he gets more exposure this time around.
Fans at the Swansea.com Stadium would question why Morgan Morris isn't involved. Understandably so, too, given his performances for the Ospreys. However, the sticking point with him might be his size.
Given the Morgan comments, that might be a sore subject, but at least one former Welsh international has expressed his doubts to WalesOnline over whether Morris could step up, with the Test game being a different beast. Of course, other players have been tarred with a similar brush and his form at least warrants a look.
But, on the No. 8 front at least, you can't accuse Pivac of not knowing what he wants. The same could be said for the blindside flank too, despite the vast number of players to turn out there. Openside remains the one a little shrouded in inconsistency.
Wales' slightly eclectic second trio of back-rows this summer do, in some ways, point towards where Pivac wants to go with things. However, as if often the case, they seem to raise as many questions as they do provide answers.
