Six Nations? Make that the 20 NATIONS!
Players representing countries they were born outside of is ‘devaluing international rugby’
THE soaring number of foreign-born players in the Six Nations is a ‘joke’, ‘dangerous’ and making the competition a ‘second tier’ of international competition, according to greats of the game.
Extensive analysis shows 25 per cent of the 210 players picked this year were born outside the country they will represent in the Championship.
In a globalised world some cases are legitimate. For example, Jamie Heaslip was born in an army camp in Israel, where his Irish father was serving. But conversely players can go hunting for international caps, or unions cherry-pick from areas like the Pacific Islands, stealing the best talent.
A swathe of stars, including former France star Thomas Castaignede believes that affects the quality youngsters. ‘It is dangerous,’ he said. ‘We have to think about players in the academies from a very young age, they must reach their potential. The French team should not be a selection of world players.’
Former England captain Lewis Moody, has also applauded World Rugby vice-president Agustin Pichot for his stance on the game’s residency laws, saying they must change to preserve the sport’s integrity.
‘With so many New Zealanders, South Africans and Australians that have not quite made it in their own country coming over here, the Six Nations is almost becoming a second tier,’ said Moody.
‘You need players who have the right passion and desire to play for their country, not just skirting around international teams seeing who they can play for.’
In the 1987 tournament just five players, one from each nation, were born overseas and nine in total played for a country different from their birthplace. But our research reveals that:
53 of the 210 players selected for the 2017 Six Nations were born outside the country they will represent – a quarter of the participants.
15 qualify on residency grounds, 13 via a grandparent and 25 through parents.
Half the Scotland squad (18 players) were born outside the country. If prop Willem Petrus Nel had been fit, Vern Cotter’s squad would have more born outside the country than in.
41 players in the home nations squads were born outside the country they will represent, 24 of those outside the British Isles.
Last week Cotter picked South African-born Cornell du Preez, the Edinburgh No8, for his squad, the latest ‘project player’ who will represent Scotland.
In November, Fijian-born Nathan Hughes made his England debut. Many countries have scouts set up around the world with the intention of finding players. The likes of Ireland flanker CJ Stander and France wing Noa Nakaitaci have benefited from this.
The increase in home unions conducting round-the-globe searches has led to calls for the residency laws to be extended.
‘As an English player, I found it very frustrating to have someone like Thomas Waldrom, who spent his entire life in New Zealand, who wanted to play for New Zealand and hasn’t quite made it, coming over in 2011 before the World Cup and suddenly in six months he is in an England squad,’ added Moody.
‘That is no disrespect to him, but it is guys like that who are why they want to change the laws. He qualified through his grandmother, who was born in England.’
Currently, if a player lives in a country for 36 consecutive months he will be eligible to play for that nation.
Pichot is an advocate of extending the law to five years, a stance RFU CEO Ian Ritchie has backed. World Rugby is set to vote on the issue in May after conducting a review involving consultation with 126 unions last November.
‘I totally agree with Pichot,’ said Martyn Williams, who won 100 Wales caps. ‘It has been a bit of a joke really, being able to play for country after such a short space of time. That devalues international rugby. Five or seven years should be the minimum.
‘What you see is a lot of players coming over at 23 or 24, having realised they’re not good enough to play for New Zealand or South Africa. And when they are 26 or 27 they can play for Scotland or Ireland — that does not sit right for me.’
Scott Hastings, who played with the first ‘Kilted Kiwi’ Sean Lineen, is also frustrated. ‘Sean is a great mate of mine, he still has his Kiwi accent, married a Scots girl and raised his family in Edinburgh.
‘His contribution to Scottish Rugby has been colossal and that’s the type of contribution I admire,’ he said.
‘In Jim Telfer’s era, the Leslie brothers [John and Martin] came over as sons of a former All Black [Andy]. John had spells at Newcastle, Northampton and in Japan before going back to New Zealand to carve out a living back there. There was no contribution, no nothing – but if the law is there, you can’t stop it. Loyalty is not a word consistently used across the game now – those were values I used to hold dear.’
Even Cotter, who introduced Josh Strauss, Du Preez and John Hardie while Scotland boss, said the law should be extended. ‘Making it five years is probably a good thing,’ he said. ‘It would affect some of our players but it would mean the academies and youth programmes would need to be in order so we could bring players through.’