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

I guess that's where the case by case basis comes into play

Honestly wonder if Zach Mercer might look at New Zealand, dude would fit really well with them.
So want Paul Hill and Kvesic to play for Germany but doubt they would risk losing money to play for a team that isn't in the RWC.

So some things we could see by next RWC.
Samoa
Victor Vito
Ben Lam
Francis Saili
Josh Ioane
Julien Savea
Denny Solomona
Steven Luatua
Charlie Faumuina
Lima Sopoaga
To'omaga Allen

Tonga
Charles Piutau
Ngani Laumape
Augustine Pulu
Vaea Fifita
Atu Moli
Nehe Milner-Skudder

Fiji
Nathan Hughes
Seta Tamanivalu
Waisake Naholo
Tevita Kuridrani

Spain
Jordi Murphy

USA
Jack Carty

Canada
Luke McGrath

(Obvs the don't see Murphy or McGrath changing though).
 
Not Mike Brown's Sock said:
Piutau, Folau, Milner-Skudder Tonga back 3...

With Laumape and Fekitoa in the centres.

Mad
Click to expand...
Just need a 10.
Pulu and Takulua good 9 options.
Veainu and George Moala on the bench


I guess Samoa could have
5. Vui, 6. Luatua, 8 Vito
10. Sopoaga
12. Nonu (Who knows), 13. Saili
11. Savea, 14. Lam, 15. Nani Williams

With two top Tightheads in Faumuina and Ala'alatoa


Would love to see Jordi Murphy play for Spain though especially with how well they are improving along with Guilhem Guirado and sam hidalgo clyne
 
Having grandparents count but not residency is insane. I wouldn't mind if they made residency 10 years or something but the fact my dad could have represented England is mind boggling to me.
 
Tbh I think the fact that you can only swap once will mean you're not going to get lots of players doing it unless they are sure it will be worth it or they are at the later stages of their career and have no chance of a recall. I definitely don't see players switching for higher ranked teams. If you're not getting in the Scotland squad, then you definitely aren't going to switch to South Africa for example. It would be a big leap for countries to promise a place for a player 3 years down the line, so it's really only players who have been left out and aren't looking at a recall. In this way it may help smaller nations who have lost players to the bigger nations.
 
Oh it's totally for PI nations. It's just gonna be guys whose t1's careers are over. I just think it should be birthplace, parent's birthplace, or residency. Hell, if it was up to me it would just be residency and it would be 8 years or something.

I think a lot of the uproar is performative as very few people watch t2 test anyways.
 
die_mole said:
Oh it's totally for PI nations. It's just gonna be guys whose t1's careers are over. I just think it should be birthplace, parent's birthplace, or residency. Hell, if it was up to me it would just be residency and it would be 8 years or something.

I think a lot of the uproar is performative as very few people watch t2 test anyways.
Click to expand...
I guess so, though tbh I do have a concern about Wales and Scotland potentially trying to pinch players who may have played earlier and then haven't forced their way in since. Both countries are always looking to deepen their squad options. Scotland especially has made a habit of targeting young players with links to Scotland, so I imagine they already have someone looking for viable players. It's definitely possible for them to tempt some fringe players of other countries with the promise of international rugby, only for them to not actually make the squad regularly and then the original country finds themselves with less options.

Just like with having to cap young players before another one does, countries shouldn't have to worry about capping players every 3 years to stop another country pinching them. I know things are slightly different for England under Eddie Jones, but normally if a player is close to the squad or been dropped, then they usually are told what to work on to some extent. On top if you get a injury crisis then you should have players available that you have developed.

Let's say for example a country caps a young 20 year old player with lots of potential because Scotland were sniffing around making promises and then they have a drop in form for a few years and other options become available. Scotland then start sniffing around again when the player is 23. However, that player still has plenty of time to develop as a rugby player and could easily get into the national squad in a couple more years and play for 5-8 years which is actually a long time internationally. However, the original country now has to worry about capping them again because if not they may decide to go to Scotland where they are being promised rugby. In this situation players are being given caps to protect them from other countries and we've already seen it happen to young players.

Let's take Chris Tshiunza. Yes, he didn't end up playing too badly this autumn, but realistically he was only ever called up to get experience and get capped to tie him to Wales. He's just about breaking onto the Exeter subs bench and his performances haven't been anything amazing. If it wasn't for the fact that he was eligible for England and France (I believe that's correct) then I honestly don't think he would have been picked yet. However, if he now has a drop in form for some reason he's eligible again for England and France in 3 years. I'm not saying either country would, but I don't like the fact that he could at any point after those 3 years decide he's had enough of waiting for Wales and then negotiates a place with England or France. Suddenly Wales lose an option they have helped develop and it puts them out.

Basically I don't think it will happen very often, if at all, between T1 nations, but I definitely think there is the potential for it happening and I think it would leave a very bad taste in the mouth.
 
Solomona eyeing up the switch to Samoa based on his Instagram

How is Lozowski qualified for Italy?
Be interesting to see how harshly they enforce the "close and credibile" link - or is it just "Your gran was born there on holiday so you're good"
 
Reiser99 said:
I guess so, though tbh I do have a concern about Wales and Scotland potentially trying to pinch players who may have played earlier and then haven't forced their way in since. Both countries are always looking to deepen their squad options. Scotland especially has made a habit of targeting young players with links to Scotland, so I imagine they already have someone looking for viable players. It's definitely possible for them to tempt some fringe players of other countries with the promise of international rugby, only for them to not actually make the squad regularly and then the original country finds themselves with less options.

Just like with having to cap young players before another one does, countries shouldn't have to worry about capping players every 3 years to stop another country pinching them. I know things are slightly different for England under Eddie Jones, but normally if a player is close to the squad or been dropped, then they usually are told what to work on to some extent. On top if you get a injury crisis then you should have players available that you have developed.

Let's say for example a country caps a young 20 year old player with lots of potential because Scotland were sniffing around making promises and then they have a drop in form for a few years and other options become available. Scotland then start sniffing around again when the player is 23. However, that player still has plenty of time to develop as a rugby player and could easily get into the national squad in a couple more years and play for 5-8 years which is actually a long time internationally. However, the original country now has to worry about capping them again because if not they may decide to go to Scotland where they are being promised rugby. In this situation players are being given caps to protect them from other countries and we've already seen it happen to young players.

Let's take Chris Tshiunza. Yes, he didn't end up playing too badly this autumn, but realistically he was only ever called up to get experience and get capped to tie him to Wales. He's just about breaking onto the Exeter subs bench and his performances haven't been anything amazing. If it wasn't for the fact that he was eligible for England and France (I believe that's correct) then I honestly don't think he would have been picked yet. However, if he now has a drop in form for some reason he's eligible again for England and France in 3 years. I'm not saying either country would, but I don't like the fact that he could at any point after those 3 years decide he's had enough of waiting for Wales and then negotiates a place with England or France. Suddenly Wales lose an option they have helped develop and it puts them out.

Basically I don't think it will happen very often, if at all, between T1 nations, but I definitely think there is the potential for it happening and I think it would leave a very bad taste in the mouth.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's a significant change from the current situation there. As it is you can cap someone who has been developed in another system, and I don't think being capped counts as significantly more investment in them (and especially not if there's been a three year gap).
 
TRF_Olyy said:
Solomona eyeing up the switch to Samoa based on his Instagram

How is Lozowski qualified for Italy?
Be interesting to see how harshly they enforce the "close and credibile" link - or is it just "Your gran was born there on holiday so you're good"
Click to expand...

Isn't it via his mum?
 
TigsMan said:
Isn't it via his mum?
Click to expand...
Took an age to Google it but it's Grandmother on his Dad's side
His Grandad was Polish and met his Italian-born wife in England and they settled down here
That'd stretch the limit of close links to the country (especially as the interview I found that in says he's never been interested in playing for Italy)

I'm really proud of my roots but playing for Italy was never something I really wanted to do. I was born in the UK, grew up supporting England in football, rugby, cricket. I spoke to Conor O'Shea a few times but I don't feel Italian in any sense. They asked me to play in the 2015 World Cup, too. Andrea Masi and Carlo Festuccia were my team-mates at Wasps and they gave my number to the Italian team manager.

'I was nowhere near the England team then but I didn't want to write myself off. I would've taken one cap for England over playing for Italy
Click to expand...
 
g6mcg said:
I don't think it's a significant change from the current situation there. As it is you can cap someone who has been developed in another system, and I don't think being capped counts as significantly more investment in them (and especially not if there's been a three year gap).
Click to expand...
Depends really on the system and the country and how much support they get. Also I think the current situation is awful. I would have a rule that if you play for a country at u20's level then you can't be capped by another country for 3 years. I will be blunt here, but mainly Scotland has started a race to the bottom to cap young, potential players who are eligible for more than one country. I don't like it as young players who aren't necessarily ready are getting capped to tie them to countries and that's not how the system works. You are right when you say this is an extension of the current system and I don't like the possibility that some countries might intentionally try to poach younger players, say 23-26 who actually in a couple years could play internationally with some improvement.
 
While I can see how in principal the Pacific Islands in particular would benefit from this, IMHO this encourages yet more mercenary behaviour, which is really the last thing we need.
 

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