Last night, Claire Byrne Live hosted a debate on the concept of nationality and the inclusion of Bundee Aki in the Irish rugby squad for the upcoming November internationals. Brent Pope and Second Captain's Eoin McDevitt spoke in defence of Bundee Aki. On the other side was Neil Francis.
Francis has been a vocal critic of the residency rule and reaffirmed his belief Aki, as well as Munster's CJ Stander, should not be included in the Irish squad:
When you are picking a player to play for Ireland, whatever else about him being good enough, the prime ingredient is whether he is Irish or not. I think at this stage World Rugby have realised the integrity of the game is at question and the cornerstone of the game is that we pick the best of us to play the best of England, Wales or whatever else.
It is a very strong line. Bundee Aki was born in Auckland to Samoan parents. He wasn’t going to play for the All Blacks. He goes 18’000km to a place he’s never heard of before, in Galway. He plays for Connacht for three years, contracted for service, because of the residency rule he’s allowed to play for Ireland.
Francis was affirmative in his belief the current system is broken: "The sheer interchangeability and the fluency of it has to stop" he said.
Second Captains presenter Eoin McDevitt disagreed with Francis, arguing the concept is actually more nuanced than that.
There are more ways to be connected to a country than being born in the country, we see that not just in sport but all walks of life. It’s 2017.
They’ve chosen to come here, they want to have the best career possible here which is a fair aspiration. We’re telling them you can't do that. You can stay here six years, seven years. You can have kids here. You can be as Irish as you want but you can never reach your pinnacle and play for the country.
In a particularly testy exchange, Francis reflected on the success of the O'Donovan brothers during the Olympics. Francis said they were;
uniquely Irish, (they) represented the best of us.
Brent Pope: I get it, Neil, but isn't the world changing, don't you walk down Grafton street and hear different nationalities...
Francis: No, you can't. You can't swap, or change, your nationhood. You can't compromise it.
The segment provoked a strong reaction online:
Neil Francis living in a different century. We need to be more open minded. #CBLive
— Myles Mc Hugh (@mylesmchugh) November 6, 2017
Absolute nonsense from Neil Francis as usual.Bundee Aki has committed to @connachtrugby & has made Galway his home.#Cblive
— L. NíHéineacháin (@LaobhaoiseNihE) November 6, 2017
Good point by @EoinMcDevitt on #CBLive: foreign-born players % in Irish rugby team not far from foreign-born population (14/15% on island).
— John O'Brien (@jlpobrien) November 6, 2017
Do find it worrying that Bundee Aki is being debated so much more than stander/strauss/payne etc. Hope it's not for the reason I think
— Seán Galligan (@seangalli1703) November 7, 2017
Not xenophobic to want players on Irish team to be Irish. Defeats the point if players can come from anywhere with no connection #cblive
— Callum Ó Ciaráin (@KerinCallum) November 6, 2017
#cblive I am a Munster supporter. Have been for nearly 50 years. I am delighted Stander plays for Munster. Should not play for Ireland.
— Brian Hodge (@ebhodge) November 6, 2017
‘Who’s Irish enough to play for Ireland? Houghton? Townsend? Aki? Stander? Setanta Ó hAilpín?’. Lads, are ye serious? #CBLive
— Adrian Barry (@WhosAdrianBarry) November 6, 2017
Ireland play South Africa this Saturday, with Joe Schmidt set to name his team on Thursday.
