Foreign-Born / Produced / Homegrown Players in 2024 Six Nations

The 2024 Six Nations Championship is a rugby competition contested between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The team rosters contain a variety of nationalities. Some rosters are predominantly homegrown while others contain a wide range of Foreign-Born / Produced Players.

Players are available for selection based on World Rugby eligibility laws. Eligibility is obtained by meeting Regulation 8. This requires a player to meet at least one of the following criteria: (a) be born in the country; (b) have one parent or grandparent from the country; (c) complete 5 years consecutive residency immediately before representative duty; (d) complete 10 years of cumulative Residency before the time of playing.

An additional category began in 2022. It allows players who have already been capped to change allegiance if they (a) have served a stand-down period from international rugby for three years; and (b) were born in the country to which they wish to transfer or have a parent or grandparent born in that country.

World Rugby announced the change as a means to serve as “a real boost to the competitiveness of emerging nations.” However, this is not accurate and is misleading. The Six Nations are elite unions. They are not emerging nations but are benefactors. Wales and Scotland both capped players via the change for Rugby World Cup 2023. The same two cheated eligibility laws at Rugby World Cup 1999. Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson played for Wales and Dave Hilton played for Scotland despite not being eligible. They were mistakenly allowed to play via a grandparent.

This article documents Foreign-Born players in the 2024 Six Nations. It identifies who the players are, where they are from, how they are eligible, if the player has represented another country and which country produced and trained the player to make him the international player that he is today.

Homegrown players are identified by the color blue in the produced category. Players shown in blue are products of the country they are representing. That is to say, the team they represent is primarily responsible for the player’s development. Red indicates that the player is primarily or entirely the product of the rugby systems of a different country.

The countries are organized in descending order from the highest to the lowest number of foreign-born players per roster.

 

This is an original work researched and written by Paul Tait of Americas Rugby News.

 

SCOTLAND

Twenty-four of Scotland’s players were not born in Scotland. One of the Foreign-Born players is a product of the Scottish rugby system. Kyle Rowe was born in England but spent sufficient years of his youth in Scotland to qualify via Cumulative Residency.

None of the other Foreign-Born Scotland players are homegrown. Included are Alec Hepburn and Ben White who played for England and Jack Dempsey who played for Australia. In December, 2023 England Head Coach Steve Borthwick was warned that England was set to lose multiple homegrown players to Scotland.

There are cases of adult professional players who were signed from abroad, to play for Scotland professional teams, with the purpose of playing for Scotland. Ben Healy and Sione Tuipulotu are examples of adults who were signed to play in Scotland with the intention of playing for Scotland. They moved to Scotland aged 23 and 24 respectively.

Others arrived in Scotland as adult professional players, without family connections to Scotland, and subsequently became Scottish eligible. WP Nel moved aged 26, Pierre Schoeman aged 24 and Duhan van der Merwe aged 22. Kyle Steyn, who is parent qualified, moved to Scotland aged 25.

Ewan Ashman was born in Canada and moved to England at the age of four. His father is Scottish. Huw Jones was born in Scotland but is not homegrown; he was raised in England.

Roster alterations have been included. Javan Sebastian was selected on January 29. He was born in England but raised in Wales and is a product of Welsh rugby. He played for Wales u16 and u18 before joining the Scarlets’ academy. Hamish Watson joined on February 19. The grandparent qualified Watson was born and raised in England. He was cut from Leicester Tigers academy at the age of 19.

Additional changes saw Jamie Dobie, Marshall Sykes, and Rory Sutherland selected on March 04. Dobie and Sutherland are Scottish-born and homegrown while Sykes qualifies for Scotland via a grandparent.

 

SCOTLAND
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 24/48 (50%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 23/48 (45.8%)

PLAYER	BORN	PRODUCED	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Alec Hepburn	Australia	England	LH	Parent	England u20, A, England
Pierre Schoeman	South Africa	South Africa	LH	Residency (2021)	South Africa u18, u20
Ewan Ashman	Canada	England	HK	Parent	–
Johnny Matthews	England	England	HK	Parent	–
Will Hurd	England	England	TH	Grandparent	–
Elliot Millar-Mills	England	England	TH	Parent	–
WP Nel	South Africa	South Africa	TH	Residency (2015)	–
Javan Sebastian	England	Wales	TH	Parent	Wales u16, u18
Sam Skinner	England	England	LO	Parent	England u20
Marshall Sykes	England	England	LO	Grandparent	–
Joshua Bayliss	England	England	FL	Grandparent	England u20
Andy Christie	England	England	FL	Grandparent	England u18, u20
Hamish Watson	England	England	FL	Grandparent	–
Jack Dempsey	Australia	Australia	N8	Grandparent	Australia Schools, u20, Australia
Ali Price	England	England	SH	Parent	–
Ben White	England	England	SH	Grandparent	England u20, England
Ben Healy	Ireland	Ireland	FH	Parent	Ireland u20
Rory Hutchinson	England	England	CE	Grandparent	–
Cameron Redpath	France	England	CE	Parent	England u18, u20
Sione Tuipulotu	Australia	Australia	CE	Grandparent	Australia Schools, u20
Arron Reed	England	England	WI	Parent	England u18, u20
Kyle Rowe	England	Scotland	WI	Cumulative Residency	–
Kyle Steyn	South Africa	South Africa	WI	Parent	–
Duhan van der Merwe	South Africa	South Africa	WI	Residency (2020)	South Africa Schools, u20

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2023 SIX NATIONS – 22
2022 SIX NATIONS – 27
2021 SIX NATIONS – 23
2019 SIX NATIONS– 19
2018 SIX NATIONS – 23
2017 SIX NATIONS – 18
2016 SIX NATIONS – 14

 

 

ITALY

Italy’s roster contains eight players born abroad. Seven of the eight are not homegrown players. Marco Manfredi is unique in moving to Italy as a child. The 36-man roster contains players eligible for Italy in one of two ways: (a) qualify via family ancestry or (b) moved to Italy as adults.

Ange Capuozzo, Sebastian Negri, Stephen Varney and newcomer Ross Vintcent all represented Italy u20. They did so without being based in Italy. They all qualify via heritage as do Juan Ignacio Brex, and Martin Page-Relo. Brex used the Olympic loophole to change his allegiance from Argentina to Italy. Monty Ioane moved to Italy aged 23.

Sebastian Negri’s brother assisted in the process of Ross Vintcent representing Italy. The South African-born Vintcent grew up in Dubai and qualifies for Italy via his Sicilian grandfather.

Tommaso Allan was born in Italy. Scotland were unhappy with his decision to play for Italy; however, he is not a product of Scotland’s rugby system. He was schooled in England and moved there aged 7.

Gonzalo Quesada added Mateo Canali and Leonardo Marin to his roster ahead of the second round. Additional roster updates saw Simone Ferrari, Louis Lynagh, and Francois Mey added on February 14 and Marco Riccioni on February 28. Canali, Marin, Ferrari, Lynagh, Mey and Riccioni were all born in Italy and five of the six are homegrown Italian players. The Italian player numbers have been updated to include the updated data figures.

Lynagh was born in Treviso, Italy. He is the son of Australian great and World Rugby Hall of Famer Michael Lynagh who won the Rugby World Cup in 1991. He played in Italy for Treviso from 1991-1996. His wife is Italian. They moved to England when Louis Lynagh was aged 4. Louis Lynagh went through the English system, joining the Harlequins academy at the age of 13. He played for England u16, u18 and u20. He was selected for England, whom he qualified for via residency, in 2001 but was never capped.

Luca Bigi was added to the roster on March 05. Bigi is Italian born and raised. His selection took the roster size up to 43 players while decreasing the percentage of foreign-born players and increasing Italy’s homegrown player percentage.

ITALY
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 8/43 (18.6%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 35/43 (81.3%)

PLAYER	BORN	PRODUCED	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Marco Manfredi	Germany	Italy	HK	Parent	–
Sebastian Negri	Zimbabwe	South Africa	FL	Parent	–
Ross Vintcent	South Africa	UAE	FL	Grandparent	–
Martin Page-Relo	France	France	SH	Grandparent	–
Stephen Lorenzo Varney	Wales	Wales	SH	Parent	–
Juan Ignacio Brex	Argentina	Argentina	CE	Grandparent	Argentina u19, u20, 7s, XV
Montana Ioane	Australia	Australia	WI	Residency (2020)	–
Ange Capuozzo	France	France	FB	Parent	–

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2023 SIX NATIONS – 7
2022 SIX NATIONS – 14
2021 SIX NATIONS – 10
2019 SIX NATIONS – 9
2018 SIX NATIONS – 8
2017 SIX NATIONS – 8
2016 SIX NATIONS – 10

 

 

IRELAND

Seven players on Ireland’s roster were not born in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. The players can be divided into two categories (a) homegrown and (b) players who arrived in Ireland as adults.

Ireland’s three homegrown foreign-born players were born in Reno, Nevada, New York City and Sydney, Australia. Jeremy Loughman and Joe McCarthy moved to Ireland as children. Loughman moved to England before arriving in Ireland aged 12. His father is Irish and his mother is German. Ciarán Frawley moved to Ireland aged 3. The homegrown trio all also have Irish parents.

Tight head prop Tom O’Toole was born in Ireland but moved to Australia aged 6 and represented the Queensland Schoolboys. The IRFU had followed his progression closely in Australia and wanted him back in their system.

Bundee Aki, James Lowe and Jamison Ratu Gibson-Park were signed from New Zealand’s elite professional rugby system. All were professional adults playing for New Zealand Super Rugby franchises when targeted by Ireland to move to Ireland and becoming eligible via residency. Aki and Gibson-Park moved to Ireland aged 24 while Lowe moved aged 25.

Lowe played for the Māori All Blacks against the British & Irish Lions in 2017 after he had signed to play in Ireland for Leinster. Gibson-Park is also a former Māori All Black.

Thomas Ahern and Oliver Jager joined the roster on February 19. Ahern was born in Ireland and is also a homegrown Irish player. Jager is homegrown too. He was born in England but raised in Ireland. He went through the Irish system and earned representative honors before adulthood. His mother is from Ireland.

 

IRELAND
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 8/36 (22.2%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 29/36 (80.5%)

PLAYER	BORN	PRODUCED	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Jeremy Loughman	USA	Ireland	LH	Parent	–
Finlay Bealham	Australia	Australia	TH	Grandparent	Australia Schools
Oli Jager	England	Ireland	TH	Parent	–
Joe McCarthy	USA	Ireland	LO	Parent	–
Jamison Ratu Gibson-Park	New Zealand	New Zealand	SH	Residency (2020)	New Zealand Māori
Bundee Aki	New Zealand	New Zealand	CE	Residency (2017)	–
Ciarán Frawley	Australia	Ireland	CE	Parent	–
James Lowe	New Zealand	New Zealand	WI	Residency (2020)	New Zealand Māori, Schools, u15 Basketball

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2023 SIX NATIONS – 10
2022 SIX NATIONS – 9
2021 SIX NATIONS – 8
2019 SIX NATIONS – 7
2018 SIX NATIONS – 9
2017 SIX NATIONS – 6
2016 SIX NATIONS – 9

 

 

ENGLAND

Five members of England’s roster were born outside of England. Three of them are products of the English rugby system. Five is also the number of Foreign-Born players that were on England’s roster in the 2023 Six Nations.

Flanker Sam Underhill is a native of Ohio. Marcus Smith first played rugby in Singapore and moved to England aged 13. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is not homegrown. He is from Cardiff, Wales and qualifies via a grandparent who was born in Gloucester, England.

Ethan Roots was born and raised in New Zealand. Tom Roebuck was born in Northern Scotland but raised in England. He learned his rugby in England. Rookie Chandler Cunningham-South was born in England but raised in New Zealand. He moved to New Zealand aged 4 and learned his rugby in the country.

Changes to the roster on February 14 saw Luke Cowan-Dickie, George Martin, and Manusamoa Tuilagi added. All three represented England at prior levels to the senior Men’s test team. Tuilagi is the uncle of Posolo Tuilagi who now plays for France.

Manusamoa Tuilagi was born in Samoa but raised in England. Manu Tuilagi was born in Samoa but raised in England. He arrived in England in 2004 and faced deportation from in 2010 for having entered the UK on a tourist visa and subsequently overstaying. This made him, at the time, eligible to play for England but not eligible to live or work in England.

Harry Randall was added to the roster on February 18. Randall was born in England but moved to Wales at the age of 4. He attended school at Llandovery and played for Wales u16 before returning to England at the age of 17 and playing for England at U18 and U20 levels.

Guy Pepper was called-up on March 10. He was born and raised in England and was a regular for England at junior levels.

ENGLAND
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 6/45 (13.3%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 41/45 (91.1%)

PLAYER	BORN	PRODUCED	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Ethan Roots	New Zealand	New Zealand	FL	Parent	New Zealand Māori
Sam Underhill	USA	England	FL	Parent	–
Marcus Smith	Philippines	England	FH	Parent	–
Manu Tuilagi	Samoa	England	CE	Residency (2007)	–
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso	Wales	Wales	WI	Grandparent	–
Tom Roebuck	Scotland	England	WI	Parent	–

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2023 SIX NATIONS – 5
2022 SIX NATIONS – 6
2021 SIX NATIONS – 2
2019 SIX NATIONS – 8
2018 SIX NATIONS – 11
2017 SIX NATIONS – 7
2016 SIX NATIONS – 8

 

FRANCE

Fabien Galthié’ Les Blues contains four Foreign-Born players. This is the same number as in 2023. Three of the four names are repeated. The newcomer is Emmanuel Latu-Meafou who was born in New Zealand but raised in Australia and is a product of Australian sport.

France’s 2024 roster also contains players from Overseas France, meaning territories outside of Europe that remain a part of the French state. Yoram Moefana and Peato Mauvaka are from New Caledonia.

Roster changes have been included. Two changes were made on January 23 and three new players were added on January 28. Of the changes Paul Willemse and the uncapped teenager Poloso Tuilagi were the players born abroad. Dany Priso was added on February 04.

Marko Gazzotti was added on February 15. Thibaud Flament and Antoine Hasty joined on February 29 and Antoine Frisch on March 10. Antoine Frisch plays in Ireland for Munster and played for Emerging Ireland but is not captured by Ireland. He has an Irish grandmother but is French born and raised.

Posolo Tuilagi was born in Samoa. He moved to Perpignan, France at the age of 3 as his father, Henry Tuilagi, was a professional rugby player. The family settled in the area. Posolo Tuilagi played for Perpignan youth teams and subsequently France u18 and France u20 in addition to being a professional player himself for Perpignan.

Priso moved to France at the age of 11 and is homegrown. Thibaud Flament was born in France but is a product of Belgium. He also played in Argentina for Club Newman, the club that produced Julián Montoya and Felipe Contepomi.

FRANCE
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 6/44 (13.6%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 40/44 (90.9%)

PLAYER	BORN	PRODUCED	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Dany Priso	Cameroon	France	LH	Residency (2008)	–
Uini Atonio	New Zealand	New Zealand	TH	Residency (2014)	Samoa u20
Emmanuel Latu-Meafou	New Zealand	Australia	LO	Residency (2023)	–
Posolo Tuilagi	Samoa	France	LO	Residency (2010)	–
Paul Willemse	South Africa	Namibia	LO	Residency (2018)	Namibia u18, South Africa u20
Émilien Gailleton	England	France	CE	Parent	–

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2023 SIX NATIONS – 4
2022 SIX NATIONS – 4
2021 SIX NATIONS – 4
2019 SIX NATIONS – 3
2018 SIX NATIONS – 3
2017 SIX NATIONS – 4
2016 SIX NATIONS – 4

 

 

WALES

Wales’ roster is notably changed to that from the World Cup. Warren Gatland selected ten Foreign-Born players for France 2023 while he began the 2024 Six Nations with four. In part this is a reflection of injuries to players including Taulupe Faletau, Christ Tshiunza, Alex Cuthbert, Gareth Anscombe, and Johnny Williams.

Archie Griffin is the newcomer. The uncapped prop was born in Australia and also lived in Singapore before moving to the UK. He moved to England rather than Wales where he was schooled. He joined the Bath academy at the age of 13.

Griffin was replaced by Harri O’Connor on February 19. O’Connor is from England. He played for Dorchester Rugby Club before playing country matches for Dorset & Wilts. He moved to the Bath academy at the age of 15. WRU staff via the Wales Exiles program approached him and subsequently continued his development.

Nick Tompkins played for his native England at junior level and for the next of XV, the England Saxons, at senior level. This did not see him attached though rugby eligibility laws are such that other players have been captured by virtue of playing for a next-of-XV.

WALES
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 5/37 (13.5%)
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 33/37 (89.1%)

PLAYER	BORN	PRODUCED	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Archie Griffin	Australia	England	TH	Parent	–
Harri O’Connor	England	England	TH	Parent	–
Will Rowlands	England	England	LO	Parent	–
George North	England	Wales	CE	Parent	–
Nick Tompkins	England	England	CE	Grandparent	England u18, u20, Saxons

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2023 SIX NATIONS – 7
2022 SIX NATIONS – 13
2021 SIX NATIONS – 12
2019 SIX NATIONS – 9
2018 SIX NATIONS – 9
2017 SIX NATIONS – 10
2016 SIX NATIONS – 13