Australasian rugby's 120 year swap meet

I actually believe Australia does have at least one more S15 team than our player pool can support.

Yowser!! yeah, baby ... any Kiwi's out there who want to go on with it?

Surprised nobody mentioned Eddie Stapleton. This from his RugbyMuseum Bio: "It is highly debatable whether Australian Eddie Stapleton should be regarded as a bone fida All Black. He along with another New South Welshman Maurice Graham filled in for the All Black touring side in 1960 when en route to South Africa two warmup matches were played in Sydney on the same day. Because two of the All Black touring party, Steve Nesbit and Dennis Cameron, were nursing minor injuries the side for the match against Queensland was short of two players, which explained the calling up of Stapleton and Graham. Today such a thing would not have happened because there would not have been any need for stopover games because of the faster plane travel. But even if the exercise was still being used standby players would be now sent from New Zealand or else the team would be tagged, given the tighter international eligibility rules now in a place, a New Zealand Invitation XV. With hindsight perhaps recognition of the likes of Stapleton as All Blacks does seem a slight to those many New Zealanders, Auckland's Bob Graham and Waikato's Dwayne Monkley as two examples, who were desperately unlucky not to have been All Blacks. Ironically enough, Stapleton scored the first try of the All Blacks' tour in what was an easy win over Queensland, a side which was nothing like the rugby force it was to become from the mid 1970s onwards. While his All Black status was questionable there could be no doubt of Stapleton's considerable ability and his standing in the 1950s especially as Australia's foremost wing. Between 1951 and 1958 he played 16 tests for the Wallabies and though he did not have exceptional pace had rare determination near the try-line. He made three tours of New Zealand in 1952, 1955 and 1958 and was a spirited opponent for the All Blacks' star wing of that decade, Ron Jarden. Stapleton also gave New South Wales superb service and in Sydney's first grade competition he made a record 236 appearances for the St George club, for whom he scored 144 tries. He was the club's captain when it won the Sydney premiership in 1957. A cousin of "Wild Bill" Cerutti and J B Young, both Australian representatives."

Ben Franks and Scott McLeod? How desperate are you going to get?

Don't you dare . . . you keep QC & you keep Deans :)

Australia had the most imported players at last years World Cup - a documented fact and evidence enough that their development system needs a great deeal of work. Regrettably the television deals of the AFL and NRL, and the appearance of marquee players in the soccer competition means there is little money available to build a second tier competition to match the ITM Cup or the Currie Cup. Don't expect this practice to change any time soon, unless the rules regarding importing players are changed. The list of players appears reasonably well researched, although neglects the key facts around the development period of a rugby player. In Franks' case his parents returned to NZ before he had even strapped on a pair of boots (aside from knitted ones). The Australian policy at present is to fill their S15 squads with talent from the ITM Cup, primarily players who are developing and working on their games, and not yet in the S15 system. If they are in the system they are not gaining significant game time. This suggests that Australia has more S15 teams than it can readily supply the talent for, accordingly one of the franchises should be handed to South Africa who have shown a commitment to developing the game in new areas rather than recycling players from other countries.

I think the 'fans' you refer to are a vocal minority. I'd like to see him come back and play a season of ITM Cup, or part of it as international obligations come first. There will always be some d-heads in the crowd - there are at any game. ITM would be a good grounding for him.

Again nice writing Dane25. I fear the humour was a bit too subtle for some though.

i think the wallabies will easily be able to solve this whole situation about player eligibility in one foul swoop - lets send Quade Cooper back to NZ. hopefully the kiwis will love having their star player back, i assume the fans will

not to mention phar lap as well!

"Look, thanks for the offer to coach Wales. But as it means I am depriving you of your own development, and I don't want Wales to look like you're poaching NZ talent, I'll politely decline." -said Steve Hansen, never.

Sore drawer, for sure. The guy that almost took New Zealand to the most consecutive record

Crowded house were half Australian! They chose the Sydney Opera House for their farewell concert so I think shows where their hearts were in any case...

hahahahaha

There are 20 Australian-born All Blacks in total, not all of whom played tests - 7 did not - from the good old days of tour matches. 20 - that is the total of all the Samoan and Tongan-born players to ever have worn Black. I see a poaching conspiracy going on! It's an interesting list histroy-wise, of course in the 'old days' the country was full of new immigrants, and see players born in India (1884, 1893, 1901) suppose born to British military families there? Note one of those - Bernard O'Dowda - I know his later descendants, three further generations of whom went on to play NZ provincial rugby. Full list on the All Blacks site http://stats.allblacks.com/asp/bornoverseas.ASP?stats_ID=8

BTW, under the current eligibility rules, Michael Jones could not have played for the All Blacks. As he played his first senior international for Samoa in 1986 (before being selected for the NZ World Cup team in 1987), he would then have no longer been eligible to play for another country, even though he was born and raised in NZ.

This whole discussion started by the gloomy Steve Hansen (who comes across as "my glass is half empty because someone else drank out of it type of person") is a load of crap! Guys, rugby turned professional a couple of years ago and, as a result, players will go wherever they need to (within the rules) to earn a quid. Steve, get over it! PS: It would have been nice to hear some words of congratulations from Hansen for Australia's effort given their injury toll, but all he said (or all that was reported anyway) was his complaints about Higginbotham and Harris. Sore loser (almost) or what?

I'll second that :) _ Paul Henry was born in Pommieland anyway, so you're welcome to him...... NED KELLY was born on Somes Island in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes and given to Three Wise Men to escort down to a Convict Ship tied up in Wellington Harbour and send across the ditch to Van Dieman's land. I understand he played rugby for Brothers, grew up to be a Bank Manager and one of his ancestors was Alan Bond :)

Can YOU please--please--keep that A****ole Paul Henry?

" I can only come to the conclusion that he saw Australia’s ocean-like depth in the front row stocks" Gold. Oh and Johnno you can keep Russell Crow, Paul Henry and Charlotte Dawson. I had to google to find out who Richard Wilkins is.