This $10 million prop is as Irish as a suntan, but they almost poached him |
This $10 million prop is as Irish as a suntan, but they almost poached him
April 11, 2026 — 9:30am
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Nationality is a funny thing.
You could take anyone in the world, put them in a packed Murrayfield with the stirring Flower of Scotland playing, and they’d swear they were ready to lay down their lives to repel the invading English, Braveheart style.
But there must be a distinction between feeling Scottish, Irish or Welsh and actually being Scottish, Irish or Welsh, and rugby has lost its way in defining that gap.
Frankly, World Rugby’s grandparent eligibility rule has simply become an extraction tool for northern hemisphere teams – particularly the Celts – to raid the south for players they had no part in developing.
The recent re-signing of Reds prop Massimo de Lutiis with Rugby Australia until 2029 is a win for the Wallabies, but the mini soap opera has once again exposed how the grandparent rule is outdated and absurdly weighted towards the Six Nations countries.
I grew up in Ulster, the province keen to lure de Lutiis,........