[3] Formally, the IRFB Regulations did not provide for eligibility based on residency, but during the 20th century there were multiple examples of players representing nations with which they had no birth or family connection.
[3] This changed in the early 1990s, when the IRFB amended its eligibility rules to specifically allow foreign players to play for a country after three years of residence.
[4] Both the eligibility rules and the adoption of professionalism in 1995 increased the number of players representing nations other than their country of birth.
Particularly the number of Pacific Island players representing New Zealand and Australia (either in the fifteen-a-side form of the game or in sevens) and Southern Hemisphere players playing for Northern Hemisphere nations grew significantly in the second half of the 1990s, due to a big difference in resources and professional pathways between rugby nations.
[8] Players who played for a national team after 1 January 1997 could no longer change countries, because the stand-down period of three years would be completed after the "one-country-for-life rule" came into effect.
In March 2000, an Australian proposal to abolish the grandparent rule and to extend the required residency period from three to five years failed to get support.
This proposal was met with significant resistance from particularly Ireland, Scotland and Wales and was sent back to the IRB Regulations Committee.
Captured players were allowed to change to another country of which they had the nationality after a stand-down period of three years, which was reduced to 18 months for the 2016 Olympic Sevens.
World Rugby considered that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were too limited playing opportunities for players to meet the residency requirement and have represented their union before the end of the year 2020.
A stand-down period of three years applies and a transfer is subject to approval by the World Rugby Regulations Committee.
[26][27] Another amendment to the eligibility rules adopted on 24 November 2021 aims to align the "age of majority" across XVs and sevens rugby.
Despite the apparent ease with which a player's – or their (grand)parent's – birthplace can normally be determined, it was the grandparent rule that gave rise to the biggest eligibility scandal to date.
On 3 May 2000, the independent judicial panel that was convened by the IRFB to investigate the matter only reprimanded the Welsh and Scottish national unions and ordered them to pay the costs of the hearing.
The panel stated not to have jurisdiction to take action against union officials and the players concerned, and didn't impose any sanction against them.
Factors that will be taken into account include, among others, the actual time spent in a country and the purpose of any absences during the qualification period (ENRT Guideline 14).
A player can go on holiday, visit family and friends, attend weddings or funerals in other countries without interrupting their period of residence.
However, the overriding factor in determining a student's eligibility remains whether there is a credible and established link with the country concerned (ENRT Guideline 19).
An example is Team GB (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, represented by the all-Ireland body of the Irish Rugby Football Union).
Regulation 8.3 sets out further criteria, one of them being that a player must be present at a match either as a replacement, substitute or playing member to be captured (Reg.
In order to be captured, a player must have reached the age of majority on or before the date of participation in an international match (ENRT Guideline 5).
ENRT Guideline 7 states that, for the purpose of the World Rugby Regulations, "the age of majority is deemed to be acquired on a Player's 18th birthday."
[34] A final example with far-reaching consequences relates to matches played by Romania, Spain and Belgium during the European qualification for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
The three countries were docked points by an Independent Disputes Committee set up by World Rugby for fielding ineligible players.
As a result of the points deduction, Romania lost its World Cup spot in pool A to Russia (initially third on the qualification table).
These players were ineligible because they, nor their (grand)parents were born in Belgium (they didn't claim eligibility under the residency rule).