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Following the popularity of ARN’s Foreign-Born Players at Rugby World Cup 2015, the hot topic of debate regarding player eligibility is to be looked at again. In this piece we take an in-depth look into the foreign-born players in each Six Nations squad for 2017.
All told, the 2017 Six Nations Championship will have a grand total of 20 nations represented. The Americas contributes to this list through Argentina, Canada, St. Lucia, and the USA.
The Celtic nations each have players born in England. In total 16 English players will play for other countries in the tournament. The next highest producers, by birth, are New Zealand and South Africa who have 10 and 9 respectively.
SCOTLAND (18) 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 18 today. It would have been one more had WP Nel not withdrawn from the squad with injury. With the smallest pool of players to choose from, Scotland is often forced to look beyond its borders to seek out eligible prospects. Avoiding an unfavorable draw for Rugby World Cup 2019 has seen Vern Cotter selecting many who did not play youth rugby for Scottish clubs. The result is Scotland has just under double the number of foreign-born players than Italy.
| PLAYER | POS | PLACE OF BIRTH | ELIGIBILITY |
| Alex Allan | LH | England | Grandparent |
| Allan Dell | LH | South Africa | Grandparent |
| Simon Berghan | TH | New Zealand | Grandparent |
| Tim Swinson | LO | England | Grandparent |
| Ben Toolis | LO | Australia | Parent |
| John Barclay | FL | Hong Kong | Parent |
| Cornell du Preez | FL | South Africa | Residency (2016) |
| John Hardie | FL | New Zealand | Grandparent |
| Rob Harley | FL | England | Parent |
| Hamish Watson | FL | England | Grandparent |
| Josh Strauss | N8 | South Africa | Residency (2015) |
| Ryan Wilson | N8 | England | Grandparent |
| Ali Price | SH | England | Parent |
| Henry Pyrgos | SH | England | Parent |
| Duncan Taylor | CE | England | Parent |
| Sean Maitland | WI | New Zealand | Grandparent |
| Tommy Seymour | WI | USA | Parent |
| Tim Visser | WI | Netherlands | Residency (2012) |
WALES (10) The Welsh roster for the 2016 Six Nations tournament included 13 foreign-born players. The number for this year is down to 10. Most of the foreign-born players in the squad grew up in Wales, with prop Tomas Francis, second row Jake Ball, wing Alex Cuthbert, and newcomer Olly Cracknell the exceptions. Ross Moriarty played for England u20’s before being called up to follow in his father’s footsteps to play for Wales.
| PLAYER | POS | PLACE OF BIRTH | ELIGIBILITY |
| Tomas Francis | TH | England | Grandparent |
| Jake Ball | LO | England | Parent |
| Luke Charteris | LO | England | Residency (1986) |
| Olly Cracknell | FL | England | Grandparent |
| James King | FL | Australia | Residency (1993) |
| Ross Moriarty | FL | England | Parent |
| Taulupe Faletau | N8 | Tonga | Residency (2001) |
| Jonathan Davies | CE | England | Parent |
| Alex Cuthbert | WI | England | Parent |
| George North | WI | England | Parent |
ITALY (8) Jacques Brunel had 10 foreign-born players a year ago. His replacement, Conor O’Shea has 8. Argentine props Matías Agüero and Martín Castrogiovanni have played their final test matches for Italy, as has midfielder Gonzalo García. South African lock Quintin Geldenhuys has also retired from international duty. Canadian Robert Barbieri has missed out. The Argentine-Italian Sergio Parisse continues to captain the team. Often criticized as failing to produce home-grown talent, Italy is fielding fewer players from abroad than many rivals.
| PLAYER | POS | PLACE OF BIRTH | ELIGIBILITY |
| Ornel Gega | HK | Albania | Residency (2002) |
| Dario Chistolini | TH | South Africa | Parent |
| George Biagi | LO | Scotland | Parent |
| Joshua Furno | LO | Australia | Parent |
| Dries van Schalkwyk | LO | South Africa | Residency (2015) |
| Sergio Parisse | N8 | Argentina | Parent |
| Braam Steyn | N8 | South Africa | Residency (2015) |
| Luke McLean | CE/FB | Australia | Grandparent |
ENGLAND (7) Stuart Lancaster had three 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 7 though it would likely be higher if Manu Tuilagi and the Vunipola brothers were available. The Americas are represented by Marland Yarde, born in Castries, St. Lucia, who moved to England aged nine. Jack Clifford is another whose parents returned to England when he was young. His father is Kenyan and mother English. Zimbabwe’s Mike Williams grew up idolizing the Springboks but is now to play for England. He was eligible for South Africa, having got an academy scholarship at the Sharks aged 18. Nathan Hughes turned down playing for Fiji at RWC 2015.
| PLAYER | POS | PLACE OF BIRTH | ELIGIBILITY |
| Dylan Hartley | HK | New Zealand | Parent |
| Jack Clifford | FL | Australia | Parent |
| Teimana Harrison | FL | New Zealand | Parent |
| Mike Williams | FL | Zimbabwe | Grandparent |
| Nathan Hughes | N8 | Fiji | Residency (2016) |
| Ben Te’o | CE | New Zealand | Parent |
| Marland Yarde | WI | St. Lucia | Residency (2004) |
IRELAND (6) 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. Yet CJ Stander is the only such player selected for the Six Nations this year. Ireland’s foreign-born legion is down from 9 a year ago to 6 today. Jake Heenan, Jared Payne, Quinn Roux, and Richardt Strauss are a sampling of additional project players.
| PLAYER | POS | PLACE OF BIRTH | ELIGIBILITY |
| Finlay Bealham | TH | Australia | Grandparent |
| Ultan Dillane | LO | France | Parent |
| CJ Stander | FL | South Africa | Residency (2015) |
| Jamie Heaslip | N8 | Israel | Parent |
| Kieran Marmion | SH | England | Parent |
| Luke McGrath | SH | Canada | Parent |
FRANCE (4) Guy Novès has again selected four foreign-born players. It is a marked change in philosophy to his predecessor, Phillipe Saint-Andre who took 10 to the World Cup in England. Fijians Noa Nakaitaci and Virimi Vakatawa account for 50% of the wingers selected. Sébastien Vaha’amahina was born in New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific that could well become independent in the relatively near future. If new FFR president Bernard Laporte has his way these could well be the last ‘imports’ to play for France for some time.
| PLAYER | POS | PLACE OF BIRTH | ELIGIBILITY |
| Uini Atonio | TH | New Zealand | Residency (2014) |
| Noa Nakaitaci | WI | Fiji | Residency (2014) |
| Virimi Vakatawa | WI | Fiji | Residency (2013) |
| Scott Spedding | FB | South Africa | Residency (2011) |
