Insulting to offer Tier 2 teams their stars back

IN THE lead up to the vote for the election of the head of World Rugby it was announced that the elected chairman would look at allowing those players who have played for nations other than that of their birth, returning and playing for their respective birth nations at the twilight of their playing career.

Initially when I heard this, I thought ‘that’s a nice touch’ but when you think about it, you realise how insulting a statement it is. Here you go Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, you can have these players back now that we have ragged them and, yes, you can select them for you mational side..!

Which is maybe wise, as we have just cherrypicked your next crop of talent, give them loads of wonga (rather than give it to you to fund your rugby programme) and entered them all in our national programme to bolster our cash-rich team in order that we can beat you easily whenever we play.

We are sure that you appreciate this generous offer, though no public thanks are required. We look forward very much to playing you in the future, giving you the opportunity to play against your re-nationalised countrymen and experiencing how much they have developed due to our vast superior infrastructure and funding that we receive as a Tier 1 nation.

Without you so generously allowing us access to your talent, we are not sure how we would be able to maintain our status and to show our appreciation, you may be pleased to know that a whip-round has been arranged by our team to cover your B&B cost while touring our country.

Whoever’s idea it was to release such a statement is either stupid beyond belief or suffering from the worst concussion ever! Arrogance of the highest order! Jeff Hazell