Guest Blogger: Residency loophole impact on English Rugby

Guest blogger The Rugby Scribbler discusses the impact of the residency loophole on English Rugby.

Nathan Hughes and Ben Te'o shouldn't be playing for England

I'm going to start by making it clear, I'm not only against Nathan Hughes and Ben Te'o playing on residency for England. Tier One teams across the world are plundering one another for players, no more so than from the pacific islands, where it's estimated that just under 20% of International Capped players world-wide decend from. It's a farce and World Rugby need to do something to stem the flow of players away from the pacific isles.

The problem I have, is tied in with Hughes and Te'o's selection, and the fact that some top quality English players, who ply their trade overseas, don't get a look in because they do not play in England.

It just whiffs a little bit of hypocrisy for me. These players earn International honours, for living and playing away from their own country on a residency basis. These players are actively being encouraged to do what England players are being discouraged to do- play abroad.

Obviously, the incentive for the Union is different- they just want as many top quality players as possible. For the players? Well when Fijian players got paid £400 match fee against England, and English players got over £22,000 for the same fixture? Who can blame the likes of Hughes for making the switch.

So whilst some quality English players play abroad in the likes of France and never receive international recognition, all because they were offered a nicer pay-slip overseas, big Southern Hemisphere players are bought in to England, attracted by a fat pay-cheque and being rewarded for doing so. Hypocrisy?

This is also true to a similar extent in Wales with the likes of Gareth Anscombe. That's not to say that the other home nations aren't involved too, but they don't penalise players for moving abroad in the same way.

It's not right for any nation to plunder the pacific islands, but to do it whilst penalising home-grown talent for me really pushes it. England are in a strong position now and probably don't miss those guys abroad, but guys like Nick Abendanon and the Armitage brothers have in recent years have been some of the best English players available and should feel hard done by for being left out.

If only we could all be more like Argentina- all born and raised in the country they represent.

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