Homegrown and Foreign-Born Players in 2025 Six Nations

The 2025 Six Nations is a rugby competition contested between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The respective player rosters contain a variety of nationalities. Some have a high percentage of homegrown players while others contain a wide range of Foreign-Born / Produced Players.

 

BACKGROUND TO WORLD RUGBY ELIGIBILITY LAWS

Players are required to meet player eligibility laws. Under the leadership of former chairman Bill Beaumont, World Rugby made eligibility law changes to enable eligible players to represent a second country following a three-year stand-down period after their last binding representative appearance for their first country. World Rugby argued that the change will serve as “a real boost to the competitiveness of emerging nations.”

Has this proven to be accurate? So far, no it has not; rather, examples demonstrate elite powers of the sport utilizing the law change to their advantage against emerging nations. Three instances are as follows. First, Australian Jack Dempsey played for the Wallabies in 2019 against Tier 2 sides Georgia and Uruguay but played for Scotland against Tier 2 side Tonga at Rugby World Cup 2023. Second, Henry Thomas played for his native England in 2013-2014 but for Wales at Rugby World Cup 2023, including against Georgia. Third, All Black Alex Hodgman, made the allegiance change to play for Australia against Georgia in 2024.

Hodgman played u20 for Fiji and qualified Samoa via his mother. However, he did not choose Fiji or Samoa. This comes in contrast to claims made by top World Rugby staff regarding eligibility laws changes. World Rugby chief executive, Alan Gilpin, argued that the eligibility change will boost the global game.

A second issue is that, in the past, teams were disqualified from World Cups Qualifiers due to fielding former u20 players from other countries. Spain was disqualified from 2019 qualifiers with Mathieu Bélie and Bastien Fuster deemed captured based on playing for France vs Wales at u20 level. The policy which saw Bélie and Fuster captured no longer exists.

Romania qualified for RWC 2019 only to be disqualified and replaced by Russia. Sione Faka’osilea was confirmed as having already been captured by Tonga. In 2003, World Rugby (then the IRB) expelled Russia from 2003 qualifiers. This followed Rugby World Cup 1999 which included Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson playing for Wales and Scotland’s Dave Hilton playing for Scotland despite not being eligible.

Until the alterations under Beaumont Regulation 8, as outlined by World Rugby, required players to meet at least one of three criteria: (a) be born in the country; (b) have one parent or grandparent from the country; or (c) complete 3 years consecutive residency immediately before representative duty.

In 2025 the residency requirement is five years or ten years cumulative. Residency was extended from three to five years in 2020; however, the May 2017 decision was delayed further.

 

PURPOSE OF THE ARTICLE

This article documents players that represent a country other than that which they were born in. It identifies who they are and how they qualify. In addition, the article identifies whether or not the players are homegrown; that is, where players were developed prior to their senior careers. Doing so assists in determining the success of individual unions in developing from age groups.

Homegrown players are identified by the color blue in the homegrown category in the respective tables. Players shown in this color are products of the team they are representing in the 2025 Six Nations. That is to say, the team they represent is primarily responsible for the player’s development. Red indicates that the player is the product of the rugby systems of a different country.

Click here to read about Homegrown / Foreign Born at Rugby World Cup 2023

Click here to read about Homegrown / Foreign Born players in the 2024 Rugby Championship

Click here to read about Homegrown / Foreign Born players in the 2024 Six Nations

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

 

HOMEGROWN / FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS

 

SCOTLAND

Of the competitors, Scotland continues to have the highest percentage of foreign-born players and the lowest percentage of homegrown players. However, the percentage of Scotland’s homegrown players has shot up from 45.8% in the 2024 Six Nations to 62.1% in the 2025 Six Nations. This is from a group of 37 players for 2025, a decrease from 48 in 2024.

The 2025 roster has two uncapped players. One of the newcomers is Fergus Burke who was selected for Scotland before playing on Scottish soil. The New Zealander moved to England and debuted for Saracens in September at the age of 25. He qualifies via a grandparent.

One of the foreign-born players is a product of the Scottish rugby system. Kyle Rowe moved from England to Scotland aged 8 and spent sufficient years of his youth in Scotland to qualify via Cumulative Residency. Center Huw Jones was born in Scotland but is not homegrown as he moved to England aged 2.

Burke is one of thirteen foreign-born players who are not homegrown Scotland rugby players. Eight of the players have representative honors for other countries. Of them, Ben White played for England and Jack Dempsey played for Australia.

Burke, Dempsey and White are all grandparent qualified. The trio and five more of Scotland’s foreign-born players are grandparent qualified. This means the majority of all of the grandparent qualified players in the 2025 Six Nations are Scotland players.

Hookers Dylan Richardson and Ewan Ashman are Scotland’s two parent qualified players. The former is a product of South Africa and the later of England, having moved there from Canada at the age of four.

Two players were signed from South Africa, to play for Scotland professional teams, and subsequently became Scottish eligible. Pierre Schoeman arrived in Scotland aged 24 and Duhan van der Merwe aged 22. Both qualified for Scotland after three years. New Zealander Tom Jordan arrived aged 21 and qualified via five year residency. Sione Tuipulotu, who is grandparent qualified, moved to Scotland aged 24. He is now Scotland’s captain.

 

SCOTLAND
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 23/37 (62.1%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 14/37 (37.8%)

PLAYER	BORN	HOMEGROWN	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Pierre Schoeman	SOUTH AFRICA	SOUTH AFRICA	LH	Residency (2021)	SOUTH AFRICA u18, u20
Ewan Ashman	CANADA	ENGLAND	HK	Parent	–
Dylan Richardson	SOUTH AFRICA	SOUTH AFRICA	HK	Parent	SOUTH AFRICA Schools, u20
Will Hurd	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	TH	Grandparent	–
Marshall Sykes	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	LO	Grandparent	–
Josh Bayliss	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	FL	Grandparent	ENGLAND u20
Jack Dempsey	AUSTRALIA	AUSTRALIA	N8	Grandparent	AUSTRALIA Schools, u20, AUSTRALIA
Ben White	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	SH	Grandparent	ENGLAND u20, ENGLAND
Fergus Burke	NEW ZEALAND	NEW ZEALAND	FH	Grandparent	NEW ZEALAND u20
Tom Jordan	NEW ZEALAND	NEW ZEALAND	FH	Residency (2024)	–
Rory Hutchinson	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	CE	Grandparent	–
Huw Jones	SCOTLAND	ENGLAND	CE	Born in Scotland	–
Sione Tuipulotu	AUSTRALIA	AUSTRALIA	CE	Grandparent	AUSTRALIA Schools, u20
Kyle Rowe	ENGLAND	SCOTLAND	WI	Cumulative Residency	–
Duhan van der Merwe	SOUTH AFRICA	SOUTH AFRICA	WI	Residency (2020)	SOUTH AFRICA Schools, u20

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2024 SIX NATIONS – 24
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

Nine members of Gonzalo Quesada’s thirty-man roster were born in countries other than Italy. 66.6% of the roster members are homegrown, a fall from 81.3% in the 2024 tournament. None of the nine foreign-born players on the 2025 roster are homegrown Italian players. Montana Ioane qualifies for Italy via residency while the others are ancestry qualified.

Matt Gallagher and Dino Lamb-Cona played for their native England at junior levels before defecting to Italy as adults. Gallagher played for England u20s while Lamb-Cona played for England at u18 and u20 levels.

Lamb-Cona qualifies for Italy via his father while Gallagher qualifies for Italy via his mother. Gallagher is the son of John Gallagher who was a Rugby World Cup champion with New Zealand in 1987. He was from England with Irish parents. Based on eligibility regulations, Matt Gallagher is eligible, after the stand down period, to switch to England or Ireland but not to New Zealand.

Sebastian Negri arrived in England from South Africa as an adult before making his debut for Italy in 2016. He moved to Italy to play professional rugby in Italy in 2017 at the age of 23. Prior to that, South African Roland de Marigny, who played for Italy, had recommended Negri to the Federazione Italiana Rugby (IRF). Negri played for Italy u20s in 2013.

Ross Vintcent also played for Italy at u20 level. He did so after talking to Tom Negri, the brother of Sebastian Negri. He attended schools in Cape Town and Dubai. Welsh native Stephen Varney helped Italy defeat Wales at u18 level. The scrum-half also played for Italy at u20 level as did fullback Ange Capuozzo who is from France.

Tommaso Allan was born in Italy but is not homegrown. He moved to England aged 8 and also lived in South Africa. Qualifying via his father, he represented Scotland at u17, u18 and u20 levels. Scottish Rugby were far from happy with his decision to play for Italy.

ITALY
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 20/30 (66.6%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 9/30 (30%)

PLAYER	BORN	HOMEGROWN	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Dino Lamb-Cona	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	LO	Parent	ENGLAND u18, u20
Sebastian Negri	ZIMBABWE	SOUTH AFRICA	FL	Parent	–
Ross Vintcent	SOUTH AFRICA	UAE	FL	Grandparent	–
Martin Page-Relo	FRANCE	FRANCE	SH	Grandparent	–
Stephen Varney	WALES	WALES	SH	Parent	–
Tommaso Allan	ITALY	ENGLAND	FH	Born in Italy	SCOTLAND u17, u18, u20
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	–
Matt Gallagher	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	FB	Parent	ENGLAND u20

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2024 SIX NATIONS – 8
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

 

WALES

Warren Gatland selected ten Foreign-Born players for France 2023 but five for the 2024 Six Nations. His roster for the 2025 Six Nations has ten players born outside of Wales. In terms of homegrown players, the Welsh roster has fallen from 89.1% in 2024 to 76.4% homegrown in 2025.

Three of the ten born outside of Wales went through the Welsh system as children. WillGriff John, Taulupe Faletau and Christ Tshiunza moved to Wales aged 4, 7 and 10 respectively. Taulupe Faletau’s father played for Tonga at Rugby World Cup 1999.

The seven other players born outside of Wales are not products of Welsh rugby. Six of them were born and raised in England and one was born and raised in New Zealand. Ellis Mee, Blair Murray and Will Rowlands moved to Wales to continue their professional rugby careers. Will Rowlands did so at the age of 30.

Blair Murray arrived in Wales from New Zealand on a professional rugby contract, debuting for the Scarlets in September and debuting for Wales against Fiji in November at the age of 23. The New Zealand Schools’ player was previously compared to former All Black Christian Cullen and contemporary All Black Damian McKenzie.

Two members of the roster represented England at senior level. Henry Thomas played for England before defecting to Wales after the eligibility laws were weakened. Nick Tompkins played for his native England at junior level and for the next of XV, the England Saxons, at senior level. He was teammates with England captain Maro Itoje in the England u20 team that won the u20 world title. Tompkins was not attached to England; however, there are many examples, such as Steven Shingler, wherein players have been captured by virtue of playing for a next-of-XV.

WillGriff John was born in Plymouth to an English mother and a Welsh father but was brought up in Wales in the Rhondda Valley where he learned his rugby. He did so after having lived in Australia until the age of 4. He went on to play in New Zealand as an adult.

Two other players were schooled in Wales and England. Second-rower Dafydd Jenkins spent two years of his schooling in England. He is Welsh homegrown as is Tommy Reffell; the flanker joined Leicester aged 15.

James Botham was born in Wales but came off the production line at Sedbergh school in Cumbria. Ellis Bevan was is a product of the English system. He was born in Solihull and spent four years playing age grade rugby with Bath before being identified by the Welsh Exiles.

The roster also includes Josh Hathaway who played for Wales U18s and for England U20s. His decision to defect to England left Wales’ coach disappointed. He was schooled in both Wales and England but primarily in the former.

 

WALES
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 26/34 (76.4%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 10/34 (29.4%)

PLAYER	BORN	HOMEGROWN	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
WillGriff John	ENGLAND	WALES	TH	Parent	–
Henry Thomas	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	TH	Parent	ENGLAND
Will Rowlands	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	LO	Parent	–
Freddie Thomas	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	LO	Grandparent	ENGLAND u18, u20
Christ Tshiunza	DR CONGO	WALES	LO	Residency (2015)	–
James Botham	WALES	ENGLAND	FL	Born in Wales	–
Taulupe Faletau	TONGA	WALES	N8	Residency (2001)	–
Ellis Bevan	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	SH	Parent	–
Nick Tompkins	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	CE	Grandparent	ENGLAND u18, u20, Saxons
Blair Murray	NEW ZEALAND	NEW ZEALAND	WI	Parent	NEW ZEALAND Schools
Ellis Mee	ENGLAND	ENGLAND	FB	Parent	–

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2024 SIX NATIONS – 5
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

 

IRELAND

Nine members of Ireland’s roster were not born in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. This is one more than in 2024; however, it represents an increase to 83.3% homegrown in 2025 compared to 80.5% in 2024.

Three of the nine foreign-born Irish players are homegrown. Joe McCarthy and Ciarán Frawley both arrived in Ireland at the age of 3. McCarthy was born in the USA while Frawley was born in Australia. Cormac Izuchukwu was born in England and moved to Ireland aged 7.

The trio of McCarthy, Frawley and Izuchukwu are all parent qualified for Ireland as is Mack Hansen. He was signed from the Brumbies as an adult produced by Australia. Hansen qualifies via his mother who was born in County Cork but moved to Australia aged 7. He moved to Ireland from Super Rugby aged 23.

Two players qualified via a grandparent. Aware of his for eligibility for Ireland, Ulster recruited Rob Herring from South Africa at the age of 22. Finlay Bealham moved to Ireland aged 18. He subsequently played for Ireland at u20 level and eventually became a professional player.

Three players were signed from New Zealand Super Rugby franchises as professional adult rugby players with the deliberate purpose of meeting the residency requirements, via eligibility laws, to play for Ireland. Center Bundee Aki arrived in Ireland aged 24, scrum-half Jamison Ratu Gibson-Park aged 24 and winger James Lowe arrived aged 25.

 

IRELAND
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 30/36 (83.3%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 9/36 (25%)

PLAYER	BORN	HOMEGROWN	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Rob Herring	SOUTH AFRICA	SOUTH AFRICA	HK	Grandparent	–
Finlay Bealham	AUSTRALIA	AUSTRALIA	TH	Grandparent	AUSTRALIA Schools
Cormac Izuchukwu	ENGLAND	IRELAND	LO	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	–
Mack Hansen	AUSTRALIA	AUSTRALIA	WI	Parent	AUSTRALIA u20
James Lowe	NEW ZEALAND	NEW ZEALAND	WI	Residency (2020)	NEW ZEALAND Māori, Schools, u15 Basketball

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2024 SIX NATIONS – 8
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

 

FRANCE

Fabien Galthié’ roster is large with 42 players. Thirty-nine, or 92.4%, of the men are homegrown players, an increase from 90.9% in 2024. This gives France, by the narrowest of margins, more homegrown players than New Zealand in the 2024 Rugby Championship. Australia had the lowest percentage of homegrown players in the tournament with 88%. Argentina and South Africa were 100% homegrown.

The three non-homegrown players on France’s roster include one born in France, and two born in New Zealand. French born Thibaud Flament is a product of Belgium rugby. He moved to Belgium aged 3 and started playing rugby aged 8 for ASUB Waterloo. He went on to play for Belgium at u18 level and for France at u18 and u20 levels. He also played in Argentina for Club Newman in 2017-2018.

Forwards Uini Atonio and Emmanuel Meafou were both born in New Zealand to Samoan parents. Both moved to France, for the purpose of professional rugby, as adults aged 21. Meafou did so from Australia where he had lived since the age of 2. He was raised in Australia and is a product of Australian sport. He qualified for France via three years residency in 2014 while Meafou qualified via five years residency in 2023. Meafou declined playing for Australia at Rugby World Cup 2023.

The four other foreign-born players are homegrown; they all moved to France as children. Dany Priso moved to France at the age of 11 and Émilien Gailleton did so at the age of 3. Newcomers Giorgi Beria and Joshua Brennan have both played for France u20s. Beria moved to France from Georgia at the age of 2 and Brennan moved to France aged 1.

Two players are from Overseas France, meaning territories outside of Europe that remain a part of the French state. Peato Mauvaka and Yoram Moefana are from New Caledonia. Mauvaka arrived in the hexagon at the age of 15 and Moefana did so aged 13.

Fly half Matthieu Jallibert is French born and homegrown but he first played rugby during a three-year stay (2004 to 2007) in New Caledonia. He returned to France in 2007 aged 9. Center Antoine Frisch is also French born and homegrown; however, he toured South Africa with Emerging Ireland in 2022. This did not attach him to Ireland.

FRANCE
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 39/42 (92.8%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 6/42 (14.2%)

PLAYER	BORN	HOMEGROWN	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Dany Priso	CAMEROON	FRANCE	LH	Residency (2008)	–
Uini Atonio	NEW ZEALAND	NEW ZEALAND	TH	Residency (2014)	SAMOA u20
Giorgi Beria	GEORGIA	FRANCE	TH	Residency (2002)	–
Joshua Brennan	IRELAND	FRANCE	LO	Residency (2005)	–
Emmanuel Meafou	NEW ZEALAND	AUSTRALIA	LO	Residency (2023)	–
Thibaud Flament	FRANCE	BELGIUM	LO	Born in France	BELGIUM u18
Émilien Gailleton	ENGLAND	FRANCE	CE	Parent	–

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2024 SIX NATIONS – 6
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

 

ENGLAND

Three of England’s thirty-six man roster were born outside of England. All three moved to England as children and are classified as homegrown. In terms of numbers, England’s roster for 2025 has 94.4% homegrown players compared to 91.1% in 2024. This means England, like France, has a higher percentage of homegrown players than New Zealand had in the 2024 Rugby Championship.

Tom Roebuck and Bevan Rodd were born in Scotland. Roebuck was raised in England while Rodd left Scotland when he was nine months old. He grew up in Dubai, the Isle of Man, and North West England. Marcus Smith first played rugby in Singapore and moved to England aged 13. Roebuck, Rodd and Smith all played for England u18s and u20s.

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. Harry Randall was born in England but grew up in the Amman Valley from the age of four, captaining Wales U16s while studying at Llandovery College. Rugby began for Randall at Tycroes in Wales. He returned to England to finish his schooling at the 17 and went on play for both Wales and England u18s before playing for England u20s and at test level.

Two others have attachments to Six Nations rivals. Alex Dombrandt played for Wales u20s in the 2017 Six Nations but is not eligible to play test matches for Wales. He does not have Welsh parents or grandparents nor does he meet residency requirements. Former Scotland u16 and u18 captain Fraser Dingwall is also English born and homegrown. He captained England u20s before ultimately playing test match rugby for England.

 

ENGLAND
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 34/36 (94.4%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 3/36 (8.3%)

PLAYER	BORN	HOMEGROWN	POS	ELIGIBILITY	OTHER REP.
Bevan Rodd	SCOTLAND	ENGLAND	LH	Parent	–
Chandler Cunningham-South	ENGLAND	NEW ZEALAND	FL	Born in England	–
Harry Randall	ENGLAND	WALES	SH	Born in England	WALES u16, u18
Marcus Smith	PHILIPPINES	ENGLAND	FH	Parent	–
Tom Roebuck	SCOTLAND	ENGLAND	WI	Parent	–

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2024 SIX NATIONS – 6
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