FEATURE A question of nationality

If you were being picky about it, this season’s Six Nations should technically be called the Seventeen Nations given how many countries have supplied players for it.

The squad passports register places of birth as exotic as Cameroon, Buenos Aires and Sydney.

The diaspora is a bone of contention for some – especially England supporters who dearly wish Duhan van der Merwe had never left South Africa. There will be more grumbles from the same quarter this weekend if James Lowe leaves a similar size-imprint for Ireland at Twickenham.

But, really, the diverse make-up of the championship is merely keeping step with the world around it.

Nationality is at the core of the Six Nations – it is what is written on the tin after all – but on a shrinking planet, who belongs where is an increasingly multi-layered business.

Globalisation is moving the pieces around the board like never before.

Look at the England squad. Marcus Smith was born in Manila, Ethan Roots Auckland and Sam Underhill Ohio; Manu Tuilagi spent the first 12 years of his life in Samoa.

Of the initial squads assembled for this Six Nations, 56 players were born outside the country that picked them. Twenty-five of those were from other Six Nations countries – the sort of border raids prompted by neighbourly genealogy that have always taken place – but more from further afield.

Far-flung additions to the championship are not an entirely new phenomenon. After scoring one the great Twickenham tries against New Zealand on his England debut, Prince Alexander Obolensky – son of what is now St Petersburg – played in the 1936 tournament.

Of blue-blooded Russian stock, he ended up in London as a refugee after his family fled following the Bolshevik revolution. He wasn’t even a naturalised British citizen when he went three-quarters of the length of the field to score against the All Blacks.

Obolensky was an interesting one-off but in more recent times the international rugby arrivals lounge has become ever more crowded.

Is this a bad thing? Some fear it dilutes an international side’s identity, especially in the case of residency-qualified players.

World Rugby was probably right to clamp down on the project player phenomenon when it increased the qualification period in 2022 from three years to five years but there is no need to go any further.

It is not as if Six Nations games are in danger of turning into New Zealand A v South Africa A.

Is nationality transferable? A supporter might instinctively think not. You want a particular nation to win the Six Nations and that’s it. You don’t change allegiances season by season. By a curse of geography or family indoctrination you have your side for life.

When you look at the Ireland side that is sweeping all before it with three adopted Kiwis at its core there is no sense of a wishy-washy green. Exactly the opposite, in fact.

The commitment to the cause of Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park and Bundee Aki – none of whom have a drop of Irish blood in them – is unquestionable.

Is nationality transferable? A supporter might instinctively think not. You want a particular nation to win the Six Nations and that’s it. You don’t change allegiances season by season. By a curse of geography or family indoctrination you have your side for life.

But maybe it is more fluid than you might imagine. It was instructive listening to Chandler Cunningham-South at England’s training camp in York last week.

He was born in Sidcup so, you would surmise, he is playing for the correct country in England. But had things worked out in New Zealand in his teens he could well have been an All Black.

Having moved there with his family at four, all his rugby – and life – experiences up to the age of 18 were in New Zealand. His friends and teammates were all Kiwis. Even his accent was Kiwi.

If the All Blacks route opened up it would have made perfect sense for him. It was only because the Crusaders could not find a spot for him that he returned to England.

Sliding doors.

Playing rugby for one nation or another in this day and age is not the hard and fast choice some would want us to believe.

The call that has attracted the most column inches this season has been that of Manny Feyi-Waboso.

Cardiff–born, his declaration for England irritated Wales supporters but that is the nature of the beast with dual-qualified players.

For every Feyi-Waboso, who qualifies for England through his grandparents, there is a Nick Tompkins, who plays for Wales through the same pathway.

He had the choice and he chose England.

For every Feyi-Waboso, who qualifies for England through his grandparents, there is a Nick Tompkins, who plays for Wales through the same pathway.

Leicester wing Ollie Hassell-Collins spoke recently of the possibility of following suit one day – even though he played for England in last year’s championship.

The door is open after the 2021 law change which made it possible to represent more than one country.

This championship has provided examples of this in action.

Alec Hepburn, who was born in Australia, has turned out for Scotland having previously been capped by England.

Again, this is a problem for some but why exactly? He qualifies – his father is a Glaswegian – so why not?

The same goes for his Scotland teammate and former Wallaby Jack Dempsey thanks to his grandfather.

It is of no benefit to rugby to lock good players out of top competitions.

Whether you like the idea of the Six Nations being multinational or not, it remains emphatically the Six Nations.

It is not as if there is some club-style transfer system in place which enables players to jump ship and follow the highest offer every summer. There is a three-year stand-down period in place before a player can pull on another country’s shirt – and it has to be one they qualify for through bloodline.

The modernisation of the regulations fits the reality of a changed environment. Little Englanders, Irelanders or Scotlanders take note – the world has moved on.

The fact is whether you like the idea of the Six Nations being multinational or not, it remains emphatically the Six Nations.

Tune in this weekend you will be left in no doubt that whatever the cast list, it remains an affair of the heart.