World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot will look into the sport’s international eligibility rules as part of a wide ranging report into the sustainability of the game in the Pacific Island nations.
The former Argentinian international came out strongly against the existing rules, which allows a player to represent a country if they have lived there for three years, when he was nominated to his post last month.
Admitting his views would be controversial, the 41-year-old former Pumas captain and Rugby Hall of Famer said he thought the period was too short.
Fiji, Samoa and Tonga have suffered from talent drain for many years and most of the top tier Northern Hemisphere nations as well as Australia and New Zealand regularly field players born in the islands.
Pichot was part of a World Rugby committee that met with the Fiji, Samoa and Tonga unions in Nadi yesterday and has been asked to lead a working party to make recommendations to the governing body in October.
The group will also look at future high performance investment levels, the conduct of agents, player movement regulations, future competition pathways, player release regulations and the conduct of non-union rugby academies.
World Rugby continued its support of the high performance and development programmes of the three Pacific unions in the Rugby World Cup 2019 cycle through a FJ$11.84 million investment in 2016.
Source: stuff.co.nz
