How the NH and Australia teams loot resources of other countries for test team selection

That guy Pichot - the Vice Chairman of World Rugby from Argentina - is a wise guy not afraid of dealing with controversial issues and the following report from News 24 is an indication of the real situation which caused a storm:- 

"World Rugby vice-chairperson Agustin Pichot has sparked outrage among the home nations by sharing a list of the top international teams and adding what percentage of their squads include players "not born in their countries".

According to the Stuff.co.nz website, Pichot's tweet, posted on Wednesday and featuring statistics for the top 11 rugby-playing nations, has led to calls for the former Argentina halfback to resign for "fanning the flames of xenophobia".

The 44-year-old's post lists Scotland (46.3 percent) on top for having the most "foreign-born players" in their squad for the November Tests, while South Africa and Argentina are bottom (both with 0 percent).

New Zealand is listed second from bottom with 12.5 percent, while Japan (37.1), Italy (29.7), Australia (29.4), England (27.7), Ireland (26.1), Wales (24.3), France (12.9) are ranked from second to eighth.

According to Pichot's list, England, Ireland and Wales all have approximately double the number of New Zealand's players born overseas in their respective squads.

Northern rugby scribes have traditionally criticised the All Blacks for pinching talent from the Pacific Islands, but last year it was shown that England had actually been the home of poaching in rugby since 2005.

Only four of the initial 32-man All Blacks squad named for their current northern tour were born overseas: Nepo Laulala (Apia, Samoa), Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Nuku?alofa, Tonga), Vaea Fifita (Vava?u, Tonga) and Waisake Naholo (Sigatoka, Fiji).

As for Pichot, his offending tweet caused quite the stir and the post had drawn close to 3 000 reactions by Thursday.

Twitter users accused Pichot of "total xenophobia" and said he was talking nonsense.

It's not the first time Pichot has spoken out about the subject of players opting to represent a nation they were not born in.

The Argentinian said rugby was "losing something" when former Hurricanes captain Brad Shields was first pictured in an England shirt in a photo posted by veteran New Zealand sports broadcaster Keith Quinn, who asked: "Is this a sad picture? I think so – what about you?"

Pichot replied to Quinn: "Algo se esta perdiendo ('something's missing' in English). We are losing something... the game is losing something..."

Pichot, who made 71 appearances for Argentina from 1995-2008, was instrumental in having World Rugby extend the qualification period for players to switch countries from three to five years living in their new country."

He added the following in a tweet he wrote:-

Jugadores No nacidos en sus paises/ Foreign-born players en Noviembre

46.3% 

37.1%

29.7%

29.4%

27.7%

26.1%

24.3%

12.9%

12.5%

& 0% South Africa and Argentina are the only teams without foreign borne players in November - the only one in the case of SA would have been Beast - but he did not feature in the November tests. New Zealand is not as bad as was claimed in the past with a low foreign borne component of 12,5%. The rest are the main looters of rugby resources from other mostly Southern Hemisphere countries. Bad news all-round!!!!!!!

It's inevitable. Countries with better standards of living and opportunities will draw foreigners. White South Africans aren't wanted in the third world country the ANC created, so the likes of England et al are benefitting. Feel no sympathy for South Africa. Likewise, why would a rugby player want to relocate to Argentina? It makes little sense. The only exception to any of this is New Zealand, who is hamstrung by its tiny population. 

Agree with you - there is no future for young Whites in SA,   If I was 40 years younger I would have been gone ten years ago.  The older people do not have the means to settle elsewhere and the SA currency has been destroyed by Government.   

Listening to the Zondo Commission - like I regularly do - it is clear that the ANC in fact means Association of National Criminals.   

His figures only took account of the country of birth, ignoring that its very common for Home Nations players to be born within one of the other Home Nations or that some of his overseas born players have 1 or 2 parents born in the country they represent. Pichot has a point but by using inflated figures he isn't going to win many new supporters to his cause.

Take Ireland Autumn Squad of 42 players

Pichot Overseas born players: 26.1% 

Herring(SA)

Bealham(Oz)

Quinn Roux(SA)

Jordi Murphy(Spain) Irish parents, lived in Ireland since 8

Stander(SA)

Marmion(England) raised in Wales, Irish parents

Luke McGrath(Canada) Irish parents, moved back to Ireland when he was young.

Carbery(NZ) moved back to Ireland at 11, Irish parents

Addison(England) Irish born mother

Bundee Aki(NZ)

Arnold(England) Irish mother

So taking out Murphy, Marmion, McGrath, Addison, Carbery, Arnold, the real figure is 11.9%

Do the same exercise with Scotland and Wales and you could easily lop off 10% of what Pichot was quoting.