History will not be kind to rugby’s ‘stupid rule’
‘I’D LOVE TO PLAY BUT IT’S WEIRD I COULD BE IRISH... LIKE, IT IS WEIRD’
YOU could easily picture a scene of mild panic spreading through the IRFU’s media and comms department on September 5 of last year. Phones buzzing with notifications. Emails and WhatsApps firing back and forth between colleagues. The union’s project player policy has always been a fiery subject and James Lowe had just walked into the Liberty Hall Theatre with a can of petrol.
The IRFU likes to carefully manage their messages to the public. We can still remember standing at the barriers in the mixed zone in Rome back in 2017 after Ireland had trounced Italy in the Six Nations. Rory Best had felt poorly the day before, meaning Niall Scannell was handed his first cap at the Stadio Olimpico.
We thought the Corkman would be buzzing after a landmark day in his career. Then there was the sight of Scannell arriving down the hallway with an IRFU minder in his ear controlling the message — the Munster hooker’s eyes were glazed over by the time he arrived up to greet us.
So you can imagine the shock at IRFU HQ over in Ballsbridge when Lowe’s quotes from a World Cup preview event across town began to blow up across social media.
The Leinster wing is set to become the last of the foreign legion who have qualified for Ireland via the now-defunct three-year residency rule in November. It will be five years, effective from January 2021. Naturally, Lowe — a born and bred New Zealander of
Maori descent — was asked about his feelings if Ireland’s call came the following year. Lowe is an impressive character on and off the pitch. He exudes an infectious energy everywhere he goes. He’s a thoughtful and intelligent character as well. In front of a captivated audience and taking up residence alongside his Leinster team-mate Scott Fardy on stage, Lowe gave a candid summation of the residency ruling.
‘If I look at it, it’s a stupid rule, isn’t it? Like… I could dig myself a big hole here, obviously,’ he said, as a ripple of laughter spread through the arena.
Lowe represented New Zealand at schools and U20 level and even scored a try for the Maori against Munster in Thomond Park back in 2016. He wasn’t too far away from realising his boyhood dream of becoming an All Black either.
That same night he revealed that a shoulder injury put paid to a potential debut against Samoa in 2015. Leinster would come calling a few years later and now Lowe stands on the cusp of Andy Farrell’s squad in the coming months. Should all go according to plan, he will surely be capped before the end of the year. With that, he will be the last of the project players. The sight of Lowe standing to attention during the national anthems will polarise people, but there is no doubting what he will bring as a player. The same applied to the likes of Bundee Aki and CJ Stander.
‘So it’s like these fine margins that managed to get me here (to Ireland),’ Lowe continued that night.
‘I would love to play international rugby, don’t get me wrong. And it would be such a privilege — such an honour — to represent Ireland. That would be awesome. Obviously, we’ve still got a long way to see if that’s going to happen.
‘But it’s a weird rule, eh? Like, three years? It’s (moving) up to five which is probably more reasonable in a way. But it’s weird that I could be Irish, isn’t it? Like, it is weird.’
It is and has always been a weird approach from the IRFU. This debate has raged on for almost a decade and it’s worth stating again that the union were availing of a system which a flurry of other nations were exploiting as well.
Pundits and fans have been arguing on both sides of the divide for years about this issue, but the big question is how the players – both parish and project – feel about the whole thing? Lowe was certainly not a lone voice when he opened up about it.
In these pages last year, we spoke to former Connacht centre Danie Poolman, who had since retired and was plying his trade with Malahide in the All-Ireland League.
Poolman and Quinn Roux were recruited as project players by the IRFU in 2014. Roux went to Leinster while Poolman made his way out to Connacht.
The South African carved out a decent career out west but he never made the breakthrough into the Ireland set-up. His reply when asked if he was ever on Joe Schmidt’s radar was telling… ‘I was due to go on one of those emerging Ireland tours, but I had a hand injury so I didn’t go on that,’ he recalled.
‘The competition was so tough. I was never in talks with Joe really and was never called up to a training squad.
‘It would have been a dream to do it. Ireland is my second home now but, again, I know there was a lot of things about the residency thing and they’re going to make it five years now.
‘I know some players would probably prefer if guys don’t play, because it’s probably only fair that the Irish guys do get picked because it’s their home country.
‘They’ve dreamed of this since they were kids. I mean I would have dreamt of playing for the Springboks so I was in a situation where I was like, “Yeah that’s what I want to do, I want to play for Ireland or I’ll give it my best shot”, but then afterwards I was thinking, “Well my dream was always to play for South Africa”. That didn’t happen, but I don’t know how I feel at the moment about maybe taking the opportunity from an Irish guy, but, again, if you look at Quinn, I mean he has bought into it. Richardt Strauss who was here, he bought into the culture.’
Now, imagine a parallel universe where Poolman managed to break through into the Ireland ranks. You’d imagine that he ticked a lot of Schmidt’s boxes as a player: big, strong, good defender, hard worker and good in the air. Let’s say he got a call-up to go and train at Carton House. Quotes like those above would never have seen the light of day. He would have been on message from day one.
Here’s Poolman again on the inner turmoil of becoming a project player.
‘Even a guy like James Lowe, if he gets picked he’s not going to shy away from anything when he qualifies. They buy into it. They love being here. They love the country so it’s interesting and it’s debatable. There are pros and cons.’
There certainly are. There is no doubt that Ireland has benefited greatly from this project. The application and dedication of those players could not be questioned but you’d wonder how kind history will be to this era of Irish rugby?
What message did it send to academy players when Jean Kleyn was handed a seat on the plane to Japan last October, seemingly at the expense of Devin Toner?
Lowe is short odds to carve it up on the Test arena, but how many caps will it cost the likes of Shane Daly, Robert Baloucoune or Adam Byrne down the line?
It’s a complex issue and, by the sounds of it, the project players themselves have been more conflicted about it than anyone.