Kyren Taumoefolau All Blacks stance splits opinions on eligibility

Whether it’s about bringing Richie Mo’unga back to New Zealand or converting Moana Pasifika flyer Kyren Taumoefolau to an All Black, eligibility discussions are ongoing all around the country.

Last week, Kyren Taumoefolau discussed the option of playing for the All Blacks, even though he has played five Tests for Tonga, the last of which was in the 2023 Rugby World Cup group stages.

At the other end of the spectrum, All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson explained on the Rugby Direct podcast that NZR has moved past trying to bring Mo’unga home early.

“We respect that and we’re moving forward,” he told the Newstalk ZB podcast.

100-Test former All Black Mils Muliaina has made a bold claim on Sky Sports weekly rugby show The Breakdown, saying that Scott Robertson should be able to pick his All Blacks squad from any Super Rugby franchise, not just the New Zealand teams.

“Because the competition is so competitive, we’ve talked about how good the Aussies are,” Muliaina said on The Breakdown.

“I think the All Blacks should be able to be selected from Super Rugby Pacific, whether it’s playing for someone in Australia. So imagine in the ideal world, imagine if an Angus Bell can play for the Highlanders. There’s Joseph Sua’ali’i also playing for the Hurricanes.

“The sponsorship that would come on board, but also the fact that you can go to Moana Pasifika, we’ve seen it already with Ardie Savea, and now if we listen to this Kyren Taumoefolau interview, we’ve also got someone that’s a youngster that’s aspiring to be an All Black.”

When speaking to media this week, Taumoefolau said that he always wanted to play for the All Blacks growing up. 

“I’d definitely be open to it. When I was growing up and being in New Zealand, I’ve always wanted to put that black jersey on,” Taumoefolau said to James McOnie from Sky Sports last week.

“Definitely something I would be open to.”

Muliaina backed up the statement made by the high-flying winger, claiming that someone wanting to play for the All Blacks is a positive thing. 

“Don’t get me wrong, we’re not saying that you don’t have to plead your allegiances first and foremost. But isn’t it great that someone wants to actually play for the All Blacks and he’s playing some good rugby?

“I think it’s great for the game, it’s great for our competition.”

Sky Sports commentator and analyst Taylah Johnson strongly disagreed with Muliaina, explaining that the World Rugby Council’s decision to make this rule was made to help the smaller rugby nations. 

“Absolutely not, I totally disagree. The reason why is that Taumoefolau made his allegiance to Tonga, and I sat at that World Rugby Council meeting.

“We didn’t make this rule change to allow people to go to top nations, it was the other way around to help the smaller ones.

“Essentially, this is going exactly against what’s happening here, but that’s a different debate. But what I’m saying is I don’t want New Zealanders to play for the Aussie teams, nor the Aussies, to play for us, because we always talk about Australia as not competitive enough. Well, they’re going to get less competitive if they’re not building their own connections.

“So if we’re going to throw some Kiwis in there, that’s going to make it worse. And then we got to be the first ones to complain and say they weren’t competitive enough.”