Smith for Evans - even in his first season - was clearly the closest in talent.
Smith / Lang might ultimately be the more talented combination once they are both more experienced. It's improbable that Smith will ever be quite as good as Evans (though he is already a damn sight closer than we have any right to expect [1]), but of our long term backups Malone was probably the best and I think Lang is likely to mature into being a better player than him.
Had we caught Arwel Thomas at his peak, it might have been a different story, though...
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[1] I thought we would struggle for a long time to replace Evans, Easter and Lowe, but in Smith, Dombrandt and Marchant we have come far closer than I expected. Now, where do we find the next Robshaws?