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Nation Eligibilty Catch-All Thread

'Scotland captured players from England that will not be eligible for England for RWC 2023 include Ali Price, Josh Bayliss, Andy Christie, Chris Harris, Rory Hutchinson, Johnny Matthews, Sam Skinner, Hamish Watson, Ben White and Ryan Wilson. Another is Scotland center Huw Jones who has English parents and was raised in England.

A number of Welsh-attached players are also from England. Alex Cuthbert, Tomas Francis, Jonah Holmes, Dan Lydiate, Will Rowlands, Nick Tompkins and Johnny Williams cannot play for England at RWC 2023. Callum Braley played for Italy in 2021 while Billy Burns and Will Addison played for Ireland.'
 
Whereas this is more interesting. I cannot verify the stats or the definition of 'homegrown', but it still paints a picture.



My take:

France/England - no issue, privately owned clubs trying to the strengthen their squad. To my surprise I would put Aus in this category as almost all their imports are non-Aussie Q. I could put Italy here too. Huge volume of imports but really struggling to find ItalianQ players. Levels should fall sharply with the extended residency rule and the u20s now being at an adequate standard.

Wales/Ireland - a mixture of squad strengthening and project players (which should decline with residency changes). I didn't realise Wales had so many non-WelshQ players. I guess they are doing their bit to try and raise the standard/depth of their sides with foreign players (I wrongly thought they weren't doing enough of that). Add NZ to this category but at a far lower level (like it isn't so determined or organised).

Fiji - really positive stats with almost 3/4s of the Drua players being Fijian born already just two years into the project. Again i assumed the Drua were largely ANZAC guys.

Moana Pasifika - seemingly exclusively ANZAC guys. But it is only two years into the project and they have said the longer term aim is to develop players born/raised in Samoa and Tonga. If it is still like this in a few years I think questions should be raised about whether this project is an appropriate use of WR funds.

Scotland - 6 out of 10 players in the Scottish URC matchday 23s weren't developed by Scotland with almost 2/3rds of these being Scotland Q players. This is what a fully mobilised project player scheme with dedicated recruitment resources can look like.

As an aside, Scotland's youth development situation is so dire that this season they have started advertising for non-Scottish Q players with a UK passport to join their domestic Super 6(?7) league, ideally of English championship level (although the advert appears to have now expired). That suggests to me they have too many Super clubs (3x based in Edinburgh).
 
I’m surprised an EQP policy if challenged could be fully legal if challenged by someone who has a British passport as under English law discrimination based on having dual citizenship is not normally legal.
 
Last edited:
Bruce_ma gooshvili said:
Italy introduce limit of 7 non-Italian qualified players in the Zebre and Benetton 23s. Positive for the long term but may cause short term pain and kill any hope Benetton have of reaching playoffs. A strange decision to make mid-season when squads have been constructed around different rules.



Hopefully it's a position taken from optimism at giving game time to a good generation of u20s from the past 2 or 3 years.
Click to expand...

Is it legal under EU law? Don’t think technically it would. It might have to be EU citizenship based.
 
TRF_Olyy said:
Why?
It's not stopping them from being employed, it's just a limit on the matchday 23
Click to expand...
It’s still seen as discrimination. You can see in football in the EU where all rules have to treat EU citizens on the same terms as domestic nationality because of EU law. Unlikely anyone would bother challenging the rules through or have the money to so.
 
www.planetrugby.com

Every player who has CHANGED nationalities for the Rugby World Cup

Planet Rugby takes a closer look at all the players at the 2023 Rugby World Cup who have made use of the recent law change and switched their nationalities.
www.planetrugby.com www.planetrugby.com

Not quite as bad as I feared. But still not great.

Portugal, one of the architects of this rule change have not poached a Frenchman but have made their job of overtaking the PIs to knock on the door of Tier1 immeasurably more difficult for decades to come.

Slow hand clap for one of the most brainless moves by a Tier2 union in human history.
 
Bruce_ma gooshvili said:
www.planetrugby.com

Every player who has CHANGED nationalities for the Rugby World Cup

Planet Rugby takes a closer look at all the players at the 2023 Rugby World Cup who have made use of the recent law change and switched their nationalities.
www.planetrugby.com www.planetrugby.com

Not quite as bad as I feared. But still not great.

Portugal, one of the architects of this rule change have not poached a Frenchman but have made their job of overtaking the PIs to knock on the door of Tier1 immeasurably more difficult for decades to come.

Slow hand clap for one of the most brainless moves by a Tier2 union in human history.
Click to expand...
That list isn't completely accurate. Wales have Henry Thomas.
 
Kiwiwomble said:
www.americasrugbynews.com

Foreign-Born / Produced / Homegrown Players at Rugby World Cup 2023 - Americas Rugby News

Rugby World Cup 2023 will be contested by twenty teams. Rosters contain a variety of nationalities.
www.americasrugbynews.com www.americasrugbynews.com

great breakdown on the RWC squads
Click to expand...
Yes (although you have to scroll a bit to get to the meat of it and there is a typo with the Japan homegrown % (or was when I read it).

No major suprises in that Tonga/Samoa, Japan and Scotland are the ones developing the smallest proportion of their own players. Italy have also got worse whilst France have got a lot better.

This is (hopefully) the last RWC with such large numbers of residency players as there are still loads who qualified under 3yr residency.

A lot of sides who cannot rely on ancestry will need to adapt to the 5 year residency extension and increase focus on youth development for the 2027 RWC, notably Japan and Romania in my opinion.
 
dullonien said:
www.walesonline.co.uk

Ireland international targets stunning switch to Wales as famous dad states case

Mike Ruddock says his son would bring a huge amount of experience to the Wales squad
www.walesonline.co.uk www.walesonline.co.uk

No thanks Rhys!
Click to expand...
I saw a tweet about this that made it look like Gatland was targeting him. Thankfully that’s not the case, it would look bad on all involved.

Any Leinster fan will love Rhys Ruddock and I’m no exception but he’s almost certainly in his last season for us and far away from starting even in a second string line up behind Connors/VDF, Penny and Deegan.
 
Bigger Gingerer 8 said:
I saw a tweet about this that made it look like Gatland was targeting him. Thankfully that's not the case, it would look bad on all involved.

Any Leinster fan will love Rhys Ruddock and I'm no exception but he's almost certainly in his last season for us and far away from starting even in a second string line up behind Connors/VDF, Penny and Deegan.
Click to expand...
Rumours are Leinster are cutting him at end of season and he is going to the Ospreys. That is where the Wales talk is coming from.
 
New Saracens fly-half Fergus Burke, who has lived his entire life in New Zealand until now, is open to playing for either England or Scotland when he begins his international career. (Daily Telegraph(

New Zealand's decision to leave No 8 Hoskins Sotutu out of their squad to face England could lead to him eventually representing their summer opponents as early as next year if he gives up his Super Rugby career and heads to the Premiership. (Daily Telegraph)
 

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