The amount of foreign-born players increases yet again for Autumn internationals
Top 10s/ListsTuesday, 31 October 2017 at 11:09
The hot topic of debate regarding player eligibility is to be looked at again. In this piece, RUCK takes an in-depth look at the foreign-born players in each of the home nations Autumn Internationals squad for 2017.
All told, the squads will have a grand total of 14 nations represented, including Canada, Fiji, the Philippines and the USA.
The Celtic nations each have players born in England. In total 20 English players will play for other countries in the tournament. The next highest producers, by birth, are New Zealand and South Africa who have nine and five respectively.
This means there has been another gradual increase with 43 players swapping countries, up from 41 earlier this year for the Six nations.
ENGLAND - Seven players
Stuart Lancaster had the foreign-born players on his World Cup roster. Eddie Jones swiftly went about making personal changes in 2016. This included increasing the number of players born outside of England to 12. In 2017 the number stands at seven though it would likely be higher if Manu Tuilagi and Billy Vunipola were available.
Dylan Hartley - hooker - born in New Zealand - Parent
Mako Vunipola - prop - born in New Zealand - Parent
Sam Underhill - flanker - born in the USA - Parent
Nathan Hughes - number 8 - born in Fiji - Residency (2016)
Marcus Smith - fly-half - born in the Philippines - Residency
Denny Solomona - winger - born in New Zealand - Residency (2017)
Semesa Rokoduguni - winger - Fiji - Residency
IRELAND - Eight players
Ireland’s policy of restricting places in their provincial sides for Irish-eligible players has had the knock-on effect of an increase in the number of so-called ‘project’ players who qualify, or will qualify, on residency. CJ Stander and Bundee Aki are examples. Ireland’s foreign-born legion was down from nine for the 2016 Six Nations to six, but has jumped back up to eight.
Rob Herring - hooker - born in South Africa - Residency
Ultan Dillane - lock - born in France - Parent
Kieran Treadwell - flanker - born in England - Parent
CJ Stander - number 8 - born in South Africa - Residency (2015)
Kieran Marmion - scrum-half - born in England - Parent
Luke McGrath - scrum-half - born in Canada - Parent
Bundee Aki - centre- born in New Zealand - Residency (2017)
Joey Carbery - fullback - born in New Zealand - Parent
WALES - Nine players
The Welsh roster for the 2016 Six Nations tournament included 13 foreign-born players. The number for the 2017 tournament was down to 10, and has now further decreased to nine. Most of the foreign-born players in the squad grew up in Wales, with prop Tomas Francis, second row Jake Ball, wing Alex Cuthbert the exceptions.
Tomas Francis - prop - born in England - Grandparent
Jake Ball - lock - born in England - Parent
Dan Lydiate - flanker - born in England - Parent
Aaron Shingler - flanker - born in England - Residency
Taulupe Faletau - number 8 - born in Tonga - Residency (2001)
Jonathan Davies - centre - born in England - Parent
Hadleigh Parkes - centre - born in New Zealand - Residency (2017)
Hallam Amos - winger - born in England - Residency
Alex Cuthbert - winger - born in England - Parent
SCOTLAND - 20 players
Unsurprisingly it’s the Scots who have the most players in the group. The number of foreign-born players, though as risen from 14 a year ago to 20 in just a year and a half since the 2016 Six Nations. With the smallest pool of players to choose from, Scotland is often forced to look beyond its borders to seek out eligible prospects. e result is Scotland has more than double Wales, who have the second most foreign-born players in their squad.
Simon Berghan - prop - born in New Zealand - Grandparent
Darryl Marfo - prop - born in England - Parent
WP Nel - prop - born in South Africa - Residency (2015)
Tim Swinson - lock - born in England - Grandparent
Ben Toolis - lock - born in Australia - Parent
John Barclay - flanker - born in Hong Kong - Parent
Rob Harley - flanker - born in England - Parent
Luke Hamilton - flanker - born in England - Parent
Hamish Watson - flanker - born in England - Grandparent
Cornell du Preez - number 8 - born in South Africa - Residency (2016)
Ryan Wilson - number 8 - born in England - Grandparent
Nathan Fowles - scrum-half - born in England - Grandparent
Ali Price - scrum-half - born in England - Parent
Henry Pygros - Scrum-half - born in England - Parent
Ruaridh Jackson - fly-half - born in England - Parent
Phil Burleigh - centre - born in New Zealand - Residency (2017)
Chris Harris - centre - born in England - Grandparent
Nick Grigg - centre - born in New Zealand - Grandparent
Byron McGuigan - winger - born in South Africa - Parent
Tommy Seymour - winger - born in the USA - Mother
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