Australia

kiwilad says...

new_j4a Why stop at Captain, he should be the PM.

Has all the necessary qualifications.

In fact, I am really struggling with the fact he was born outside of Aus.

He is a Aussie as XXXX.

Posted 02:36 05th June 2012

5Lock4ward says...

I used to get on here just to start this eligibility argument, esp. when it came to England but God is it boring now. At the end of the day nobody forces at gun-point any player to put a national jersey on. Also nobody forces the selectors or coaches of any national team to select any of the players born outside of their borders. I didn't hear too much complaining when Kiwi Deansie took over the Wallabies. It's a global market with lots of $ involved. If there can be Kiwi's and Australian Scotsmen on the BI Lions then no boundary is sacred anymore. If we were that concerned we'd be pelting the IRB w/ this noise, not one another. Play on.

Posted 21:16 29th May 2012

2EyedKiwi says...

@trinats2. Not your best work mate...

Much like most movie sequels, the 2nd just isn't as good as the original. Hopefully Trinats3 will be an improvement. Even better, will be awesome if Trinats3 is in 3D! Will make a welocme change from the normal 1 Dimensional drivel we normally get...

Posted 10:30 29th May 2012

tha_mai says...

kiwieire02 - Mike Harris - grandmother Australian-born so is eligible.

It does make the Shingler decision look more ridiculous though, as Harris played for the World Championship winning New Zealand Under-20 side in 2008, but that doesn't count in his case as in 2008 NZ had a Juniors side as their second team.

Posted 08:23 29th May 2012

tha_mai says...

injury ruled out Christian Lealiifano (Auckland, NZ), and Henry Speight (Fiji) has one more year for residency eligibility, he gave up a place in Fiji's RWC squad so he can play for Wallabies 2013, after his time in NZ's ITM Cup.

The Ozzie Barbarians!

Posted 00:51 29th May 2012

runnrugby says...

Maybe just sing the NZ national anthem for both sides for future Bledisloe matches.

Posted 21:51 28th May 2012

kiwieire02 says...

I don't think Mike Harris is eligible. I thought the IRB had a 3 year residency rule before a player could play for a national side other than their country of birth? Ireland has had to abide by this rule in the case of their South African hooker Richardt Strauss.

I believe Mike Harris only moved to the Queensland Reds at the start of last season, that only gives him 18 months in Aussie tops. Unless He was born in Aus or spend some time in Aus growing up.

This could be interesting to watch pan out especially after the Shingler Wales/Scotland debacle.

Posted 18:34 28th May 2012

hybrid187 says...

Summed it up perfectly tha_mai.

It is in fact NZ, with population just over 4 million, who supply players and coaches to the rest of the world.

Australia's best players are all as Aussie as a Volkswagen.

Posted 13:46 28th May 2012

costa says...

where are aussie commnets, i havnt seen much recent super rugby, there are a lot of players gone from rwc squad

is this deans last chance, selecting so many new players is a risk but if they are the right new ones and they do well he may get a longer contract past next year, better i think than hanging on to ones who have just one or 2 seasons left at this level. nathan sharp must have been close?

Posted 11:26 28th May 2012

tha_mai says...

Trinats2 - I make it six in that squad NZ-born; no complaints they or their parents made the choice and no doubts on any eligibility. Harris is the only cheap-shot, not good enough for NZ super squad, a rugby mercenary.

You will find from current NZ squad there is one born outside the country, that being the Oz-born Ben Franks brother of NZ-born Owen. Add in your monotonous, repetitive and incorrect whine about PI imports and PI-eligible - look at the Oz squad . . .you'd be better not to raise that topic.

For the record, the NZ-born players are as far as I can tell (may be more):

Three born Auckland: Harris, Vuna, Mumm (grandfather an AB); Wellington: Ioane, Tomane; Tokoroa: Cooper

Add in Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, PNG, PI and so on, I think you are on a losing argument here.

It makes the England team look English!

They are eligible, get over it, or try to divert the attention to a non-existent NZ issue.

To help with your facts, try this: http://stats.allblacks.com/asp/bornoverseas.ASP?stats_ID=8 for a list of every overseas-born AB, ever. There is no similar site for ARU.

Posted 07:39 28th May 2012