RFU chief predicts pay peace with new deal

You're banging your head against a brick wall trying to get this basic fact through to them,atlas.

you'll find 78 (players born outside NZ) is less than 7% of 1118 All Blacks Read my post - are you sure all those pre WW1 and WWII players (34 of the 78) were poached?

And I might add,that it is nz that props up Pacific Island rugby,supplying them with the bulk of their players i.e nzers of pi descent. But then,you're a pom, so by your definition,anyone that has a brown skin is a player nz poached.Maoris are also pi's too,and make up the bulk of polynesians in the AB's - did we poach them too? When it comes to nz rugby, like most foreigners,you don't know what you are talking about. And,last but not least,it may be your CLUBS buying up foreign talent,but please don't try and make out that the NH don't exploit this situation.The clubs are independently owned,so the talent bought in doesn't cost the home unions anything,but with the eligibility rules changed,you don't have to go trawling for talent,the clubs do it for you.

8% of what? If you think I'm going to take anything Hightackle says at face value,think again. How about we do one of Australia,that would make interesting reading. And, I still haven't had my question answered,where are these names? I find it incredible that people can fling mud, especially in light of what Australian rugby is currently doing to nz - i.e poaching. As for a qualifying period,no,you only play for the country you were born in,or played your first rep game. Like Hansen said,you(and England) are the real poachers,not NZ.

8%, Richard. 8%. (See above).

The only one showing his ignorance is you.NZ DOES NOT trawl through the islands,you berk. I have had a gutsful of Australian and English pundits throwing this about.If that's the case,give me the list of names Try looking closer to home,and the poaching of nz playing stocks by oz super sides. .And yes,it may be the clubs that buy these players,but the eligibility laws that the IRB put in place enables the RU to use their clubs to exploit this rule.

Lots of ignorance above (aside from Hightackle). England don't target any players. It's the English CLUBS who sign players from abroad to improve their team, just as the French clubs do and just as soccer clubs do. Waldrom was signed by Leicester because they thought he was a good player - no one even knew he had an English grandmother until he'd been in the country for a year. There is an issue about foreign players qualifying for England after 3 years and then being picked. The IRB needs to make it a minimum of 5 years, imo, but let's not pretend that England trawls through the southern hemisphere for players like the NZRU does with Pacific Islanders. It's much more ad hoc than that.

Sivivatu came to NZ at 15 and was 23 when he debuted.

I'm not worried about tuilagi, I think he should play for England, as should Hartley. Its players like Waldrom, Maitland, Harris et al, who are the players they are because of the nzru development system, then poached as soon as a country realizes they had a g'ma born in their country. That is what the real issue is, not kids and teenagers moving to a country then ending up playing for them.

And which of those players were headhunted by the nzru? pretty sure they all came off there own bat, to try and for fill there dream of becoming an all black. Come on, set this lost cause straight. And sivivatu was 15, but don't worry, lies make you look worse when hey are so easy to prove wrong.

To Greg and Atlas,I would ignore Hightackle on this issue.As Greg rightly points out,there is a big difference between a player being bought through a country's development systems, and players being targeted as adults.I would have thought that was straight forward, but it seems a difficiult concept for Hightackle to grasp. This brings me back to my earlier post.I see what England is doing as the thin end of the wedge.Their press is saying they have to pay higher salaries to keep their players out of the clutches of cashed up French clubs.There may be some truth in that, but the poms know full well, that other than the French,no-one can compete with them money-wise.Players from this part of the world are going to gravitate in even larger numbers to the NH.With many of them becoming eligible for NH teams. We will then be told by the NH to suck it up,as that's professional sport,with of course the rules as they stand benefitting them,at our expense. You only have to look at the recent changes to the eligibility rules by the IRB.Why were they changed, oh that's right, to stop NZ poaching island talent.Just another smokescreen to deflect attention away from the real agenda, putting laws in place that benfit the NH unions, but especially England.

your 8% of course includes players from the day when NZ had just started playing rugby, like my friend's great grandfather Bernard O'Dowda, born India, played 2 matches (no tests) in 1901. And before him, fellow 'Indians' Braddon 1884 and Herrold 1893. On your feeble argument, they were POACHED? In AB history 78 players born out side NZ from 1118 players selected. 23 of those were before WWI started, 100 years ago. Poached, obviously! 34 were from before WWII The actual figures, though I imagine facts are the last thing you'd understand American Samoa 2 Australia 21 England 7 Fiji 8 India 3 Ireland 5 Malaysia 1 Samoa 13 Scotland 9 South Africa 2 Tonga 7 This list is inclusive of players such as Mehrtens (born SA to 2 NZ parents on working holiday), Ben Franks (Australia, 2 NZ parents) and the latest one, Kerr-Barlow (Australia, 2 NZ parents) Apart from Kerr-Barlow, the last overseas-born player selected for NZ was Ben Franks in 2008 Before that, John Evan Schwalger, 2007 (played 2 tests). Brother of Mahonri (Taranaki/Chiefs/Samoa) JS chose to play for NZ as that is where he lives (as does Mahonri). Note: Inga Tuigamala, played for Kelston Boys School, Auckland, played for Auckland schoolboys, and NZ schoolboys, later for Ponsonby club, then Auckland B, then Auckland A and on to All Blacks. He still lives in Auckland, works as a funeral director.

Greg, as NZ has a hystory of using both adult and other foriegn born players and me saying they do is 100% fact my argument is air tight. 100% air tight. You trying to dismiss it as if its not true is one big hole. Your argument isnt full of holes...you dont have an argument. Im not embarrassed by ackowledging the truth but I am embarrassed by other kiwis sometimes, and right now, thats you. Stop being too afraid to face up to the fact that NZ does it too. Harden up dude. Everyone in the world knows its true and you acting all precious and trying to avoid it makes you look bad. They know its true and they know you are too precious to admitt it.

Dude, Tuilagi wanyed to play for Eng, just like TKB wanted to play for NZ. You are a lost cause.

Tuilagi was 14, Hartley 16, Sivi 17, B.Thorn 25, Devine around 20 etc. Its completey different becuz you are in denial. "It doesnt count when we do it" The rest of the world laughs.

There goes that word "poached" Who has any team poached? No player that plays for England was "poached". I will repeat AGAIN. 8% of all ABs have been born outside of NZ. TKB was born in Aust and when he was approached by Australian interests was imeadiately signed by the NZRU. Tew has stated publicly that they have scouts working on the east coast of Australia. Timani was given a scholarship by an Auckland school to play in NZ after being scouted in Tonga. Thorn had never played a game of rugby in NZ until 25. Sivivatu was older than Hartley, Cooper, Genia, Tuilagi, Vunipola and others when he came NZ than they were when they went to their countries. Devine was an adult who, like Brad Thorn, had already played for Aust. Then there is Tuigamala who as far as I am aware was not a NZ born or raised person. Eng did not scout Vunipola, Tuilagi, Waldrom and Hartley and they were not "poached".

How many adult professional players has the AB'S poached hightackle?

How many of them came to NZ as children hightackle? Completely different to Aus, Eng, Scotland etc trawling through the ancestry of NZ domestic players then poaching them as fully developed adult rugby players. Last world cup NZ provided 145 players, while they had one or two foreign born (NZ raised) players in their squad. The likes of Kerr Barlow always stated he wanted to play for the AB's, and moved over on his own to realize that dream. You argument has more holes than a cheesegrater so quit embarrassing yourself.

8% of all All Blacks throughout history WERE NOT BORN IN NEW ZEALAND. Why is it that with our history of using Tuigamala, Sivivatu, Devine, Kerr Barlow and MANY MANY OTHERS, are NZs the first to point the finger? Dont tell me, its different when NZ does it. We dont have scouts in other countries despite Tew confessing we do, they are NZ products (Hartley, Tuilagi, Vunipola are English products) bla bla bla.