if we agree that a player can qualify on residency (and surely we all do) then we agree the principle. The number of months needed is more a technical detail, given the shortness of playing careers, 36 months seems too long to me, and I'd rather see it shorter than longer.
So, abramovic decides to set up Russia rfc and buys in the best 'uncapped at senior level ' talent ..... No thanks.
yes, that sounds unattractive - but on the other hand a serious weakness of rugby - compared to football - is that we don't have enought countries
- only four countries capable of winning the world cup
- only eight tier 1 countries, three of which, ahem, happen to be different regions of the same country.
We desparately need more countries to play rugby. How is that going to happen? It may well involve some talented players moving to new countries...
Would it be such a bad thing if some talented players moved to - say - the USA, Italy, Georgia, other countries and helped build those teams?
I