Former England scrum-half Danny Care has hit out at the selection of the foreign-born players for the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
Andy Farrell has picked several individuals who were born and raised in the southern hemisphere but qualified for their respective national teams through World Rugby’s eligibility laws.
Key Ireland players Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe all dreamt of being All Blacks before heading to Europe and qualifying via residency.
Scotland’s South African-born wing Duhan van der Merwe also went down that path, moving to Edinburgh in 2017 and eventually becoming eligible for the country.
Could feature in the Lions XV
They have all been picked in Andy Farrell’s squad for the trip down under and are among the favourites to be selected in the XV for the Test matches.
Another Ireland player, Mack Hansen, qualified through his Cork-born mother, while Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu has a grandmother from Greenock which enabled him to represent Gregor Townsend’s side.
And following the arrival of Finlay Bealham, who was born and raised in Australia, Care has questioned the inclusion of those players in the Lions squad.
“Whatever I say here, you’re going to get stick. You open yourself up to it,” he told the BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
“It doesn’t sit that well with me that some of these… both your starting wingers are going to be lads that never, ever once in their childhood or even their mid-20s ever dreamt of wearing a red Lions jersey.
“It is what it is, it’s the rules, and why not. If you’re James Lowe or you’re Duhan van der Merwe or you’re [Jamison] Gibson-Park, you go, ‘oh, I’ll play for the Lions, yeah.’
“We’re not going to change it, but it just doesn’t… I think there’s a lot of people that feel the same but can’t say it.”
Lions legend’s view
While Care believes that many people have chosen to stay quiet on the matter, one person that hasn’t is Lions legend Willie John McBride.
The former Ireland star went on three tours with the Lions, captaining their famous success against South Africa in 1974, and revealed that he is ‘bothered’ by the decision to pick the foreign-born players.
“One thing that does bother me is that eight (sic) members of the squad are not born in Britain or Ireland,” he told Rapport last month.
“That’s how things have changed over the past 60 years. In my day, the team consisted only of native players.”