Fearns In Les Bleus? C'est Un Outrage!

The sweaty basics pay dividends for new-look Gloucester.

- Nick Cain

The thought of Carl Fearns becoming a surrogate Frenchman fills me with dread. This is not so much because the Lyon-based Liverpudlian is a formidable back row forward who could enhance France’s clout going into the 2019 World Cup, but because it is another instance of rank mismanagement by World Rugby.

The governing body of the global game have trumpeted the introduction of their revised five-year residency rule as if somehow it is the game’s knight in shining armour addressing an obvious injustice. The fact that the injustice of turning international rugby into a flags-of-convenience lottery is something that World Rugby (IRB) perpetrated all by themselves, with their crass decision to allow a three-year residency rule, is airbrushed out of the picture.

The three-year rule has not only done untold damage to the aspirations of second tier rugby nations like Fiji, Samoa and Tonga – who have had their players cherry-picked by richer nations – it also flies in the face of the tribalism that is such an integral part of international rugby, and, to a lesser extent, the club game. This tribalism is something that should be cherished rather than trampled on, particularly in a sport in which pre-and post-match camaraderie between rival supporters is a long-established tradition.

The reality is that most fans want to support their national teams because they identify with them through ancestry and a shared sense of history and heritage. Added to that there is the important weave of clubs – which are important community hubs in every rugby nation – seeing players who have been nurtured by them reach their full potential by achieving national honours.