All Blacks on tour

The question of eligibility has, at last, focused the minds of rugby mandarins. No bad thing. Never mind former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje playing for Ireland, the career of former Blackrock player Steve Bachop and his brother Graeme has certainly tested the credibility of what constitutes a modern international team.

The two brothers played in the last World Cup, Steve for Samoa and Graeme for Japan. In fact they played against each other. However, both were actually born in New Zealand. But then All Black players have been in big demand. One of the most telling statistics to come out of the 1999 World Cup was that there were more New Zealand-born players playing for other countries in the competition (35) than there were in the All Black squad. Twenty eight out of the 30-man squad were born in New Zealand.