World Rugby needs to fix the game's broken international eligibility rules

Yes good point, recall Samoa beating Wales in 91 World Cup

Yep I'm not surprised Aus has a high number, but a lot of those born overseas are immigrating here with family at a young age and living here. No Australia isn't blameless but we have large multicultural communities and don't shop to the same extent. Scotland is pretty bad though, didn't realise how high it was.

At the time of the last World Cup, Agustin Pinchot tweeted a list of the main contenders and what % of their squad was born "overseas" (I put that in inverted commas because all but one of Wales' overseas players were born in England, which is technically the same citizenship) - Scotland 46.3% Japan 37.1% Italy 29.7% Australia 29.4% England 27.7% Ireland 26.1% Wales 24.3% France 12.9% New Zealand 12.5% South Africa & Argentina 0% I think he was making a point about Argentina being fully Argentinian, but there's a pretty big wide gap between the NZ and Aus numbers. At least in 2019, Aus was in the same ballpark as 3 of the 4 UK&I nations. That Scottish number is crazy high ...

thanks derm

Highlander - I don't know the details of the Scottish set-up but the situation in Ireland is/was based on the Player Succession Strategy from 2012. That was designed at the time to develop 2 test-standard players in every position for the Irish test team. The IRFU strategy reduced the quotas of foreign players for Ulster, Munster and Leinster (Connacht was development province at the time) and each province could only recruit 4 NIE (already capped) + 1 special project player who could become Irish qualified if good enough. Foreign contracts for capped players could not be renewed. Players recruited were limited to one foreign player in each position - 15 in all. So at most, the 3 provinces could have 3 special project players on their books to which the IRFU would contribute a portion of their salary. Some special project players were offered 3-year contracts to allow them to reach 3 years within contract such as Jared Payne. But that policy didn't last long as some players didn't work out. Stander was offered a 2-year contract with Munster because they needed a backrower, Ireland didn't since it's the one position of which there are more than enough. Richardt Strauss came in 2009 because Leinster needed a hooker after the sudden retirement of two of their hookers through injury. James Lowe was not scheduled to come to Leinster until 2018 but pushed for an earlier move and Leinster did the deal because Luke Fitzgerald had to prematurely retire through injury. Quinn Roux came on a trial to Leinster, didn't work out and got a move to Connacht. Four years later, he got called up for a test in SA. Nathan White, also at Connacht, was another accidental residency qualified player. He finished at Leinster, and he decided to try out at Connacht, and a year before his retirement got called up because there was a prop injury crisis leading up to a RWC. You could add to those names, a list twice as long of uncapped players who played with Irish provinces and didn't work out leaving after 1, 2 or even 3 years in the case of Gerhard van den Heever, the slowest winger that Munster ever came across. Since 2017, IRFU have introduced IQ Rugby with the aim of identifying and tracking already Irish qualified players - primarily from the UK, and some playing in the US. There are no more special project players considered since that time. IRFU said they were going to put money instead into its academy programme which doubled in size across the four academies. Any uncapped player who has been signed since 1 Jan 2018 is unlikely to be kept beyond 5 years. Foreign - capped or uncapped - players are receiving 1-2 year contracts maximum. David Nucifora pushes the provinces to recruit domestically whenever possible and to use their academies. From having 30 plus foreign players turning out each week in 2012, the numbers have dwindled considerably, with the possible exception of Munster who can't seem to rid themselves of the habit. :) Next season so far Munster - 3 foreign capped players - de Allende/Snyman/Jenkins + 3 uncapped residency qualified players - Knox, Salanoa and Cloete. Leinster - no capped foreign player plus 2 capped residency players - Lowe and Gibson-Park Ulster - 2 foreign capped players - Carter and Nakawara - no residency Connacht - 2 foreign capped players - O'Donnell/Porch - plus 2 capped residency Aki/Roux - and 1 uncapped player.

Have a look at the Republic of Ireland squad for the 1990 World Cup. From a squad of 22, only 6 were born in Ireland. The eligibility rules in soccer are similar to rugby, with residency periods and the so-called "grandmother" rule. They do have the rule that once you've played a full international match at senior level, you're tied to that country for the rest of your career. Which I agree with - once you've picked a lane, you have to stick to it.

rugbys rules around international eleigibility are nonsensical. Players should not be able to play for countries when they have no hertige or connection. this simply benefits the countries with major leagues who consistently poach players to the detriment of pacific islanders and other smaller rugby playing nations. rugby is now a wordlwide sport and should act like it

is that cuz Kiwi brains are smaller, rarer and harder to find?))

I know this article is about the pacific Islands primarily and Southern hemisphere, but the same issue is raging in Europe. The 5-year rule will punish T2 Nations there is no question about it. This is so controversial in Europe is not funny, the recent scandals in 2018 Romania and Spain is a case in point, the players involved where captured by T1 Nations but never played senior Test after the capture they changed their allegiance to the above countries but eventually they were found to be ineligible. Something not addressed by the author, but World Rugby records are a mess and after the Test matches it was discovered the players were capture by T1 Romania and Spain where penalised and ejected from the 2019 RWC Qualification. This is the thin edge of the wedge to me. The 7’s loophole has brought some parity there is no straight answer at least U 20 is no longer available for capturing players.

Ha Jacko. Your classic comment reminded me why Kiwi brains are $500 per kilo and Aussie brains are only $2.50 A kg. :happy:

I did improve the overall IQ of both countries when I shifted to Aus Kent... :laughing: :laughing:

Far more Aussies in England than Kiwi's tho Bobby so comparing 1 nationality to only 1 country is hardly relevant.....Possies??? ( Poms Aussies LOL )

1. If your first cap is your country of birth, then that's it you can not play for any other country 2. If your first cap is not your country of birth and where you have citizenship and three years of residency you are still eligible to be capped by your country of birth if you also have citizenship. (If this country does not allow dual citizenship they would have to renounce the other) You can not return to play for the team of your first cap or any other country. CJ Stander (assuming born in SA). If his first cap was for Springboks then he is not eligible to play for any other country. His first cap was Ireland (not his country of birth), he would need to have Irish citizenship and five years residencies. He could subsequently be eligible to be capped for the Boks if he also holds SA citizenship. But no other country. If a player is on the cusp or thereabouts and thinks they are not going to be selected for their country of birth. Invariably this will usually be a "Tier 1" type country. They will usually be around 21-25 at that stage of their career. If they move to another country they need three years of residency and qualify for citizenship, they would then be around 24-28 before being capped. If they have a career for say 5 years they would then be 29-33 years old. They would be eligible to be selected for their country of birth. But at this age returning to the country of birth of a "Tier 1" type country is unlikely, but more probable if returning to a 'Tier 2' type country. Allowing them to bring back all their experience. CJ Stander (assume born in SA) is now 31 - it is possible he could be selected by the Boks but it would be a challenge. Most other players at that age would be no chance to compete with local talent/incumbent players Fekitoa (28) and Piutau (29). Assume born in Tonga.- Ist cap Tonga that's ist First Cap NZ (not their country of birth), They would need to be NZ citizens and have 3 years of residency. They would still be eligible to be subsequently capped by Tonga if they also qualify for citizenship. Thoughts Gentlemen?

Jacko, I don't know the numbers but Kiwis living here would outweigh Aussies living in NZ by many times over. We are however in order to make Australia a safer place exporting thousands (I think) of your occupying mob. Keep the nose clean Jacko :happy: :happy: :happy:

saw a docco and all of the Samoans (in Samoa) their dream is to play for the Blecks - not Samoa. What a joke Look at what it meant for those of Tongan descent who were born in Oz or NZ when they played for the nation of their heritage - Tonga at the RLWC2017 & how much it meant to their parents / grand parents.

why is the grass so green in Un Zud? cuz all of the Kiwi's are over here standing on ours boom boom Cuz

I gve it 20 years and most of the teams at the RWC will be chokka block full of Pasifika players. If a player was living in that country before the age of i.e. 15 then they can represent. They gotta extend the eligibility to 8 years, OR make the player become a citizen of that country, have them show some commitment to that country besides just playing for the big $$$

The 5 year eligibility rule won’t change much for Australia and NZ, as many Pacific born players complete their high school there. As far as motivation goes, only the players themselves know how they feel about their representation. Feeling a part of a new culture could be instant or never happen and everything in between. A governing body cannot put a time limit on patriotism, but they do need to have a standard set of rules for eligibility on the grounds of residency. They have decided on 5 years. By my twisted logic if 5 years of residency can qualify a player for a test team then not playing test rugby for 5 years should release them from that team. Realistically this would result in a player only playing for a maximum of two teams as any more would require more than a decade of test rugby.

I don't agree with this.. We are talking about one COUNTRY playing vs another COUNTRY. I'm not saying you have to be born in one country to play for them but at least you should have spent a decent amount of time living there and especially in my opinion you should have been 'rugbystically' formed there.. Otherwise it's a joke. How come a professional player can go to play abroad and only three years later be able to play for that country? even less sense it makes that if he is notpicked to play any longer then he can go back and play for his original country? not being a 'nationalist' here but the whole purpose of one country playing vs another country is to play with their players. There needs to be a connection there.. a few years living there, parents, etc.. I have nothing against CJ Stander but it's not fair to other Irish players who are leaving their skin on the pitch to play for their country and it's also counterproductive for Irish rugby as well. the guy came back HOME as soon as he retired because he wanted his kids to grow in his own COUNTRY (understandably). Islanders picked for NZ but not called again want to play for their original country? Well.. they should have thought about that before playing for NZ. Not their fault maybe.. WR Rugby should help develop rugby in Pacific Islands so that those players can play professionally in Europe or NZ and represent their countries at the same time but that's another long conversation.

Agree with a lot of what you're saying Paulo especially that coaching and passing on international experience would be beneficial to the pacific players and would allow ineligible players to be a part of the team.