RFU want to increase eligibility level

World Rugby is due to vote on the existing eligibility level issue in May, however, RFU is determined to argue the case and hinted that it may impose its own five-year rule even if it is voted down.

The current residency rule for a player is three years, subsequently, a player becomes eligible for the national team.

However, a campaign led by World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot is seeking to raise the level by a further 24 months with concerns that it was undermining the fabric of the international game and fuelling the player drain from the Pacific Islands.

According to the Telegraph, countries including Scotland and Ireland have been criticised for targeting young ‘project’ players from the southern hemisphere with the view to bolster their squads after three years.

RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie recently told the Telegraph in an interview, he supports the extension of residency rule and it "absolutely the route to go down".

He added: "In an ideal world there would be universality of regulation and there's a helpful way of dealing with this, and that's by moving the World Rugby regulation from three to five years,"

An extension to the requirement would mean Auckland-born Denny Solomona would have to wait significantly longer to qualify for England, whereas under the current laws Sale's former rugby league wing becomes available in August.

Meanwhile, France have declared they will only select players who hold a French passport in the hope it will reverse the national team's reliance on overseas-born players.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk