True Guard with Rapier and Dagger

Ok. I guess I'll start in the same way as Swetnam, by describing his true guard. This is basically so you can follow what I'm saying. In the book, he describes this as a guard and then most of his principles and explanations appear attached to it. After reading, smacking my head against the table, ordering more beer, smacking my head against the table and so-on. I decided to separate True Guard from the principles and treat it in the way he's treated the other guards. So:

True Guard with the Rapier and Dagger:

How to hold this guard:

Rapier low- in line with trouser pocket. Hilt of dagger in line with with left cheek, point sloping parallel to the right shoulder. Both arms straight. Tips of blades to be close together. If the gap between the blades is too much- move the rapier hand backwards until the points are near.

Why this guard:

Protects against wrist blows, stops rapier from being tied up by dagger.
It's “True” because it's for beginners rather than being perfect. It allows the beginner to play and discover principles without getting too hurt.

There is a question about the angle of the dagger- he says to have it sloping towards your right shoulder, but in practice that makes the knuckles on the dagger hand far too vulnerable and requires you to keep the rapier back quite a lot to maintain a small distance between points. Pointing the dagger forwards a little means that your knuckles gain a lot more protection and you can extend the rapier hand forward into something closer to what we recognise as third. This question cannot be a matter of closed/open hilt on the dagger as he explicitly talks about this difference elsewhere.

I can see what he means about this being a great beginner's guard. Flinch reactions from this position are effective- you can deflect the attack over your sword shoulder (if you remember to drop the tip of your rapier and thrust) or you can pass to your dagger side. You can have quite a healthy exchange without being hit, even if you start to panic a little.

Also, the position of the dagger means that you're not as vulnerable if you choose to attack a leg. The traditional "pull back your leg and wallop him on the head" doesn't work as well when the dagger is covering that line. It's still not a great idea to go for that as a target, but it's no longer really, really stupid.