The Official RWC 2023 Poaching Thread

[Lizard]

WTF are they even doing here? Data is again in short supply here, so this is almost certainly incomplete. There's no way there's 31 rugby players born in...

Chile - 2
1 Brazilian: Matías Garafulic
1 Peruvian: Salvador Lues

[Lizard]

Countries of origin

In order of most victimised by the scourge of poaching...

New Zealand: 54 players
Australia: 17
England: 16
France: 12
Tonga: 11
South Africa: 9
Fiji: 5
Argentina, USA: 3
Samoa, Scotland, Wallis & Futuna: 2
Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, DRC, Germany, Ireland, Korea, Moldova, New Caledonia, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, Wales, Zimbabwe: 1

[Lizard]

And to summarise the poaching scores:

Samoa 25
Tonga 17
Scotland 15
Japan 14
Italy 12
Romania, Wales 10
NZ 9
Ireland 8
Australia 7
England 6
Fiji, France, Portugal 5
Chile 2
Georgia, Uruguay 1
Argentina, Namibia, South Africa 0

[Puja]

They invented rugby, so have a legitimate claim that all rugby players are in some sense from...

England - 6
1 Australian: Billy Vunipola
1 Cypriot: Henry Arundell
1 Filipino: Marcus Smith
1 Samoan: Manu Tuilagi
1 Scotsman: Bevan Rodd
1 South African: David Ribbans

I think this may be the least poachiest England team I've seen in a long while. Ribbans is the only one with a foreign accent and even he's got some English ancestry.

Maybe that's why we're shit this time? Haven't got our quota of Kiwis journeymen whose qualification is playing rugby in the Premiership for a few seasons?

Puja

[Lizard]

I’m a bit surprised by how few Fijians are playing for others (NZ is usually good for a couple) and how few foreign-born players are in the Fiji squad.

I can’t remember if I did this for 2019 but it would be an interesting comparison.

Edit: Here we go viewtopic.php?p=180902&#p180902

[Lizard]

And here’s a much more thorough effort for this year’s tournament

https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2023/ ... -rwc-2023/

[Puja]

I’m a bit surprised by how few Fijians are playing for others (NZ is usually good for a couple) and how few foreign-born players are in the Fiji squad.

I can’t remember if I did this for 2019 but it would be an interesting comparison.

Edit: Here we go viewtopic.php?p=180902&#p180902

The Drua have clearly been a game changer for the Fijian national side. Really good to see.

And here’s a much more thorough effort for this year’s tournament

https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2023/ ... -rwc-2023/

Wild how much Italy got away with in the late 2000s and 2010s. If you think how harshly the IRB have come down on some fairly minor breaches by Spain and Romania the last two cycles, it's incredible to see Italy having so many ringers at once and getting away with every single one.

Puja

[Lizard]

NZ Born But Playing For Someone Else In the World Cup XV
1. Feao Fokuaika (Ton)
2. Paula Ngauamo (Ton)
3. Uini Atonio (Fra)
4. Will Skelton (Aus)
5. Taleni Seu (Sam)
6. Steven Luatua (Sam)
7. Jordan Taufua (Sam)
8. Michael Leitch (Jap)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Ire)
10. Lima Sopoaga(Sam)
11. Jame Lowe (Ire)
12. Bundee Aki (Ire)
13. Pita Ahki )TOn)
14. Ben Lam(Sam)
15. Charles Piutau (Ton)

No room for Charlie Famuina, Gareth Abscombe, Ben Tameifuna, Gus Pulu, George Moala...

[canta_brian]

Cool, next can you do an entire team of Ioanes? They must all be related right?

[Lizard]

Cool, next can you do an entire team of Ioanes? They must all be related right?

I think Ioane is the Jones of Samoa.

I can tell you that the only RWC's without a member of the Tuilagi family have been 1987 and 1999. And one of the next generation played u20 for France...