You're being blasé to think that Doyle & Sayfutdinov "could easily" have the beating of Bewley & Kurtz at the NSS. I would suggest 13 & 15 "could easily" goin the favour of the Aces.
And King hasn't been capable of doing that for a few years ...
Riss is a big miss - Barker was never going to be any sort of replacement - another in the preferred Ipswich mould of 100% popular trier. Hume is entertaining, and a great bloke, but not strong enough consistently to carry the reserve spot. Would having a "better" RS make any difference? Not really ... the RS isn't supposed to be under pressure. Even if Ipswich were prepared to take on Rowe or Kemp - or even if either Rowe of Kemp want to ride for Ipswich - would it have made a huge difference tonight?
I'd forgotten about Eurosport - even so, it would have made quite a story for them if Nicholls had answered a 28 day SOS. It's not as if the Witches are riding every Monday ...