Watch: Irish rugby plans to import even more foreign players
They put their bodies on the line. They work harder for their country than for any other team. Nobody questions the fanatical commitment of international rugby players. But should they?
Gone are the days where your nation wasn’t a choice. Our world is undoubtedly made better by international travel, collaboration and emigration, but what are the rules on where they fit into rugby?
In recent years the new toy for coaches around the world has been ‘project players’. Stars who fly across the world to play club rugby in a new country and watch the clock until residency rules drop them into international rugby. If you comb through Europe’s top leagues you’ll find a treasure trove of hidden Southern Hemisphere talent with one eye on a three-year wait for the six nations.
Nobody is doubting that a player like CJ Stander is immensely talented, but is he immensely Irish? After growing up in South Africa and playing U18 and U20 rugby for the Boks he looked set to break into the senior ranks. It never quite happened for the thundering number eight, and he later revealed that he was seen as too small to be in the South African pack.
Munster certainly didn’t question his size, and in 2012 they signed him as a way around the IRFU rule stating they couldn’t add any more internationally capped players. At the time Stander’s accent was fresh off the veldt, not the bog.
Since then he’s gone on to become a leading light in European rugby. At just 27 years old he’s already a Munster stalwart and an Irish hero, regardless of the fact he spent the first 22 years dreaming of being a Springbok.
It’s not an isolated incident either. David Nucifora and the IRFU have set up a dedicated ‘IQ Rugby’ programme for overseas players. The programme launched this year aims to combat the recent rule changes and scout out potential future Irish stars playing their rugby overseas.
As if their current bounty wasn’t enough to go on. With the likely additions of Bundee Aki and Tyler Bleyendaal, the Irish could easily line out this time next year with more backs born outside of Ireland than in it.
In May of this year, World Rugby vice-chairman Augustine Pichot finally got his wish and the residency period for international qualification was increased to 5 years. A move hailed as a huge step in the right direction.
In his eyes ‘project players’ are just a way of the larger tier one nations buying an advantage over the smaller unions, and that the idea money could have any impact on the international game is fundamentally wrong.
The extra two year waiting period certainly makes it more difficult for a player to justify emigrating to play on the biggest stage. Five years is a long time in the career of even the top players.
What remains to be seen is whether the rule change will put a halt to ‘project players’, or whether they’ll just start moving earlier. It’s easy to see why coaches will pick the best players on offer, but what about the ones who don’t make it? An international jersey is always earned, but the question remains, should it only ever be on offer to those working for it their whole life and not just for 5 years?
Comments on RugbyPass
Don’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to comments