Only if he drinks tea instead of coffee (which would also make him eligible for India and China).

The bare facts of the matter is that Reed is English, Heighington is Half English, whereas Rangi?? That's what makes it wrong imo.

Bet if Chase wins the Final for us a small few will change their opinion of the whole thing.

No worries about it happening though lol

It doesn't really matter what gets said now anyway, Chase is playing for England tomorrow night & nothing is going to change that.

On a side note well done to Tom & Kirk on making the team, hope they dont get split up & have a successful/injury free series.

i dont really have an issue with Steve mac as coach but Wilkin in and no carvell WTF????
Is gareth injured or something??
i would have tickle before wilkin

I think the plan is for Graham, Morley and Peacock to do quite a few minutes in the Front Row, but if push comes to shove and one needs an extra break or gets injured then Westwood will move up there. However, as I rate Westwood highly I'd rather see him in the back row as much as possible.

Carvell's Welsh, McNamara left him out as a matter of principle.

I cant beleive the criticism of McNamara about people he hasnt picked, Carvell etc.

We dont know if there are niggles in the camp, and he might have thought that Morley and Peacock need some mileage in the legs more so that Carvell. Its a friendly and a run out FFS

so hes playing for wales then in the 4N NOT


been the form prop of this years SL in my opinion just surprised

with regards to chase I have to say if he sets up a number of tries and we win the 4N because of it the comments of the fickle will change overnight, at the end of the day all nations play players not born of that country, its within the rules so live with it I guess, whats good for the goose and all that.....
If Lockyer had said he had a great granny that was from shorpe and wanted to play for England no one would have said a word

calm down love!

Tony Williams and Akuila Uate aren't Australian, yet they're playing for Australia this coming series.

Petero Civoniceva, who has played for Australia 40 times, was of Fijian descent and born in Fiji.

All swings and round abouts, not that I support it.

The Tony Williams who was born in Sydney?

Quote ="carl_spackler"The Tony Williams who was born in Sydney?'" The Tony Williams who has played for Tonga three times en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Willi ... gby_league)

Quote ="carl_spackler"The Tony Williams who was born in Sydney?'" The Tony Williams who has played for Tonga three times en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Willi ... gby_league)

Quote ="tommyfromhull"The Tony Williams who has played for Tonga three times en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Willi ... gby_league)'" Yes that's the one. Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Quote ="tommyfromhull"The Tony Williams who has played for Tonga three times en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Willi ... gby_league)'" Yes that's the one. Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

But played for another country. So yes, he's just as bad as Heighington and Chase. Thanks for backing up my point.

I don't dispute the system is a joke, I was just pointing out that he is in fact Australian. Being able to switch allegiances should not be allowed IMO, and if it wasn't I very much doubt he would have played for Tonga.

Probably right about not playing for Tonga.

The system is beyond a joke, it's a farce. A player plays for their own country, they should not be able to change and swap as they so wish. Maybe as soon as a player becomes a full-time professional they should commit to their own actual country and only be able to ever play for them. No guarantees that they will, but it may help the huge grey area to shrink.

I agree with what you suggest. The problem has been that RL has positively encouraged players to mess about with their representative options as an attempt to make more competitive national sides. The players obviously go along with it as they get a chance to play international rugby, but still don't permanently hamper their chances of playing for the actual country of their choice. The governing bodies need to just accept that Australia/NZ will likely always be the dominant sides by a fair stretch and tighten up the rules, as the current situation is just that any Australians/Kiwis not good enough to get a game look for alternatives, whilst the best islanders turn their back on their home country if they can, so the big 2 still have their pick of the best whilst the rest live off scraps. The gap will never close in that environment.

..and the difference between what RL does and other sports is? The union WC is full of players 'qualifying' for a country under slightly dubious circumstances. Brad Thorn happily declared himself an Aussie in RL - and equally happy a Kiwi in RU. Why RL fans seem to take this as some big issue when other sports - far bigger internationally - don't is beyond me.

I do question players changing countries, but you can't have it both ways - if you want a broader international competition than England, Aus, NZ, PNG and France (i.e. if we want to promote a World Cup that looks anything like a World Cup) you have to let it happen. RL is simply not played in Tonga, Fiji, Samoa etc. If you didn't let swapping happen, there would NEVER be a Fijian team (or a Tongan or Samoan one).

A problem unique to RL has been the impact of Origin on NZ in particular. The rules of qualification for Origin are as daft as a brush, but its the eligibility to play for Australia which causes the problem. I have no problem if a player picks Australia because they see themselves as Australian even if they qualify for NZ (Karmichael Hunt for example), but its the element of coercion that gets me.

Luckily for us Jack Reed didn't take the Origin carrot, and more Kiwis seem to be opting to play for NZ. But the threat is still there, and Queensland are starting to really push a 'Queensland Academy' approach of targeting young players eligible for Queensland with a view to making sure they play for them in the future.

But my point is that the belief that there is a wider international game even with it being allowed is misplaced. There might be 4 or 5 other teams, but they're so 2nd string it isn't even worth it. We have a 4 nations coming up where there are only 2 possible winners, and even England reserves just tonked France. PNG etc make up the numbers to fill groups for a world cup which few people bother to attend, and lose every game unless some of them play each other, it's pointless.

For those that are worried about Yeaman and Briscoe being split up, there's a video on youtube of McNamara announcing the line-up and he says 'We've got Ryan Hall and Jack Reed on the right side, Kirk Yeaman and Tom Briscoe on the left'.

yes but he may have been facing the team

Nice article on Yeamo here: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3894214?

Nice article on Yeamo here: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3894214?

Its simple play for who you like when a youngster. If you have a choice of a few, you decide you alligence to a country when you sign your first professional contract, end of.