This $10 million prop is as Irish as a suntan, but they almost poached him
Idea
Nationality is a funny thing.
You can take everyone in the world and put them in an exciting Murrayfield. flower of scotland They were playing and swearing that they were ready to sacrifice their lives to repel the invading British. Brave heart style.
But there must be a distinction feeling To be Scottish, Irish or Welsh, and indeed to be Scottish, Irish or Welsh, and rugby has lost its way of defining that difference.
Frankly, World Rugby’s grandparent eligibility rule has become an extraction tool for northern hemisphere teams, particularly the Celtics, to raid down south on players they had no part in developing.
Reds prop Massimo de Lutiis’ recent re-signing with Rugby Australia until 2029 is a victory for the Wallabies, but the mini-soap opera has once again revealed how outdated the grandparent rule is and its absurd emphasis on Six Nations countries.
I myself grew up in Ulster, a county keen to attract Lutiis, so on a selfish level I should have applauded his potential move, but the truth is Big Mass is as Irish as a sunburn.
In fact, those admitted to their adopted country under the five-year residence rule show a deeper connection to their new homeland than those who qualify because of a single grandparent.
This is a rule that should only apply to Pacifica countries as a way of repaying the game’s debt to them. But northern hemisphere countries play the inheritance game because there is no cost involved; It’s a no-brainer for them to do pedigree checks on all Super Rugby teams every year.
The only way to stop this is to deprecate the grandparent rule, which is complicated by Pacifica countries, or impose a cost on those who still want to use it.
The difficulty lies in agreeing on cost: essentially deciding the value of a player.
But a young player like de Lutiis is potentially worth $10 million and would have to be if the Irish had successfully signed him.
That seems like a lot of money in a sport with no transparent transfer market and no clear way of valuing players, but if you follow the logic it isn’t.
At just 22, de Lutiis could easily be a 10-year Test player. The prize for winning the Six Nations alone during this period will be £65 million ($125 million), and this does not include other performance-related income such as sponsorship and broadcasting earnings.
So what does everyone say about good tight accessories? They are very valuable. You can’t win any competition without at least one world-class number 3.
If Ireland had been able to get de Lutiis for free it would have been an act of theft and it would have been impossible to compare the value lost in Australian rugby with the value gained by the Irish.
Over a 10-year period de Lutiis could have played 100 Tests for Ireland (and the British and Irish Lions), resulting in a figure of $10 million; a flat fee of $100,000 every time he dons the green jersey.
This is how you value a player: stagger payments according to Test appearances, so that the national union that loses the player is properly compensated and the union that hired him also pays for it.
This would also solve the plausible deniability problem that exists in Europe, particularly in France, when it comes to hiring.
The French Rugby Federation’s position is that it cannot stop French clubs from plundering young Australian talent and is not directly involved in the recruitment of young Australian stars such as Heinz Lemoto.
This is technically true, but Les Bleus will ultimately benefit if Lemoto follows in Emmanuel Meafou’s footsteps and qualifies for France.
Rugby Australia may never stop the free-market flow of young Aussies to wealthy Top 14 clubs, but pocketing $100,000 every time an Aussie plays for France will certainly soften the blow.
In my experience, there is an extraordinary lack of understanding in the northern hemisphere about the urgency of this issue for countries like Australia.
Former Rebels coach Dave Wessels understands this. Wessels, who is currently general manager of high performance at SA Rugby, has taken a chance on Ireland having recently snapped up several South African students of Irish descent.
But up north he struggles with the assumption that anyone with a pint of Guinness in Dublin or a Brain in Cardiff is basically Irish or Welsh, so what’s the harm in that?
But the damage is real and de Lutiis will not be the last young Super Rugby player to receive a tempting offer from abroad, leaving nothing for the union that developed him.
Paul Cully is a rugby columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
