Nathan White and Rodney Ah You, we’re looking at you.
There could be very bad news for foreign players looking to play rugby for Ireland after World Rugby confirmed it will be looking into the rules around international residency.
According to the BBC, there is a consultation underway within the various rugby unions to see what their current view is on the situation that sees players who have yet to make an international appearance playing for a country after living there for three years.
Ireland have benefited from the rule in recent years with Jared Payne the most high-profile player to make his name as an Irish player despite being a Kiwi, having played with Ulster for the last number of seasons
World Rugby chief executive Brett Gospe feels there may be an appetite for change.
“We are doing a consultation with the unions to determine what their view is.”
“What we are going to do is look at it. Certainly Bernard Lapasset (WRU President) feels it is something that needs to be looked at and I think I share his view.”
England, Wales and Scotland also have a number of players that are not natives but who have qualified through the residency system.
There has been a growing fear in Ireland that non-Irish natives will stem the flow of Irish-born players to the national team with George Hook blasting Jared Payne during this year’s Six Nations campaign.
Any change could negatively affect Ireland’s chances of future success if we don’t tap into the wealth of foreign experience playing here, but it may also force provinces to promote from within and the change could in the long term be a positive.
Gosper feel that the future of the international game requires an examination of the current rule,
“The integrity of the international game is important, there is a lot of player movement internationally, and we just need to take stock. Is this the right rule now? We will come to an answer on that.”
“I don’t want to speculate on an outcome, but I think it’s good we are looking at it.
“Things have moved on since the last time we have looked at it, and there just maybe a different decision on it than there was last time.”
