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World Rugby to vote on easing rules on player Test team switches

Realistically the whole thing is just to boost Samoa and Tonga, claims that it's to increase competitiveness of all Tier 2/3 is BS

I can understand why Fiji (and Georgia, Romania, Russia etc.) wouldn't be best pleased about it
 
Realistically the whole thing is just to boost Samoa and Tonga, claims that it's to increase competitiveness of all Tier 2/3 is BS

I can understand why Fiji (and Georgia, Romania, Russia etc.) wouldn't be best pleased about it

TBF I don't have a issue with most of the Tongan players tbh
Charles Piutau both parents are tongan played like 9 games max nearly 10 years ago
Vaea Fifita tongan born 12 caps NZ
Atu Moli 4 caps
Augustine Pulu 2 caps 7 years ago


I have more a issue with the players who have more than double digits

I also hope world rugby stop players try to claim things like EQP just to get a better contract for clubs it should be can they realistically get capped by that country. Like Gary Graham trying to claim EQP again just for Newcastle benefit
 
Thats not correct, England don't do this because players have to play in the premiership. The club might look abroad but not england.
It would be malpractice by management not to be scouting players playing abroad. I never said anything about England signing the player themselves, so stop reading things that aren't there, but you can't tell me they capped a guy before they scouted him cause he hadn't played in the premiership yet
 
Saw this on Reddit

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Realistically the whole thing is just to boost Samoa and Tonga, claims that it's to increase competitiveness of all Tier 2/3 is BS

I can understand why Fiji (and Georgia, Romania, Russia etc.) wouldn't be best pleased about it

but they are Tier 2/3 countries...so boosting them does boost those tiers, just because not every country benefits in the same way doesnt mean its not useful

we should also point out the PI countries have much smaller populations than any of the european ones and so they have much less scope to grow the game

Tonga only has about 100k people and samoa about 200K so they're never going to have full domestic leagues and so leveraging their players overseas is really important
 
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It would be malpractice by management not to be scouting players playing abroad. I never said anything about England signing the player themselves, so stop reading things that aren't there, but you can't tell me they capped a guy before they scouted him cause he hadn't played in the premiership yet
I think you need to read your comments and then mine again mate.
England don't scout players abroad as it serves no purpose, they watched shields after he was signed and played a load more games before he arrived in the uk.

There are literally 100s of SA, NZ etc all eligible to play for England but that means nothing unless they are already signed to an English club.

No need to get your panties in a twist over your complete lack of understanding or comprehension of the English language.
 

do you think they decided to make this decision without scouting Underhill or did they just read some press clippings? England is well aware of who is eligible to play for them and keeps an eye on players overseas in case they move to a domestic club. I don't know why you have such a problem comprehending this.
 

do you think they decided to make this decision without scouting Underhill or did they just read some press clippings? England is well aware of who is eligible to play for them and keeps an eye on players overseas in case they move to a domestic club. I don't know why you have such a problem comprehending this.
Noticing who is performing well internationally, especially if they have already played in England and are English ≠ scouting abroad for talent that might be eligible
 
Noticing who is performing well internationally, especially if they have already played in England and are English ≠ scouting abroad for talent that might be eligible
I agree to an extent. There is also no such thing as "might be eligible". World Rugby's eligibility regulations are pretty clear cut so England would have a list of players at there ready as to who they would be able to select. Scouting isn't just discovering players, it is gathering information about players.
 
Fair enough.

Tonga could actually do well out of it.

Laumape, Piutau, Fifita, Moli and Milner-Skudder are all young enough to be in decent fettle for the RWC. Add Manu Vunipola at 10 to replace Morath too.

Did Adam Coleman play for Australia in the AIs? If not, he'd be a good one for them to pick up. If he didn't play in the AIs, his last game for the Wallabies would have been in the 2019 RWC so he'd be eligible next Autumn. I seem to remember his dad played for Tonga?
Milne skudder failed to make a super rugby squad for next year; I doubt he will go overseas, he's likely to transition into coaching (was a player - assistant coach for manawatu during this seasons npc)
 

do you think they decided to make this decision without scouting Underhill or did they just read some press clippings? England is well aware of who is eligible to play for them and keeps an eye on players overseas in case they move to a domestic club. I don't know why you have such a problem comprehending this.
Why would the RFU need to scout a player who at represented the RFU at age-grade?

Speaking to someone on the phone =/= scouting.

NB, that article was written ahead of the 2016 6N (less than 2 years after Sam had last pulled on an England shirt, and less than 1 year since he'd last pulled on a Gloucester shirt).
He didn't appear for England until he'd already signed for Bath.
 
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do you think they decided to make this decision without scouting Underhill or did they just read some press clippings? England is well aware of who is eligible to play for them and keeps an eye on players overseas in case they move to a domestic club. I don't know why you have such a problem comprehending this.
You really need to not google things and assume your making a point.

Sam Underhill was an "overseas" player in being English playing for a Welsh club under RFU rules all players eligible to play for England even if they've been cap'd must play in the Premiership.

Third bullet point in the article.
  • Eddie Jones keeping a close eye on the former England under 18s captain
The RFU, acutely aware that Underhill could potentially be called up by any one of the USA, Wales or Scotland at the end of the season under World Rugby qualification rule, are desperate not to miss out on an exciting talent they nurtured through the age-group ranks.

It wasn't a case of poaching, it was trying to make sure he didn't get poached.
 
Ben Te'o was tapped up by the RFU before Worcester.
Yeah there's definitely cases of the RFU letting players know they'd be in contention if they were playing in England (or playing union in the case of Sam Burgess).

Even Shields had this to say "I had a couple of conversations with a couple of different people, managed to get a bit of an idea how it might go down, and the rest was up to me to play good rugby and get into the mix." He was aware of his chances in England before moving.

Don't know why this is so contentious, under the current regulations it'd be poor management not to keep an eye on eligible players. The way rugby is set up in England limits the extent of it as a bargaining tool unlike Ireland, for example, who can offer a contract as incentive as well as dangling international rugby in front of your face, but it still goes on in England for sure.

It was never worth England's while to chase players who'd eventually qualify through eligibility, fortunately that's not an option for anyone anymore with the 5 year requirement.
 
How does the grandparent rule work, if a player's granparent is italian though his 2 italian parents yet never spent any time there. Is the player italy qualified?

And how strong does the granparents claim have to be to make the player eligible? If you get what i mean
 

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