Foreign Born Players, Homegrown Players and Eligibility in 2026 Six Nations

The 2026 Six Nations is a rugby competition contested between six competitors: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The respective player rosters contain a variety of nationalities with players qualifying in a number of ways.

Competing in international rugby competition requires players to meet World Rugby’s player eligibility laws. Regulation 8 requires players to meet at least one of four criteria: (a) be born in the country; (b) have one parent or grandparent from the country; (c) be registered exclusively with a Union or Rugby Body in the country for sixty months immediately preceding the time of playing; or (d) complete ten years of cumulative residency preceding the time of playing.

Requirements have undergone numerous changes, notably so under the leadership of former Chairman, Bill Beaumont. One example is that players can now represent a second country following a three-year stand-down period after their last binding representative appearance for the first country.

World Rugby argued that the change would provide “a real boost to the competitiveness of emerging nations.” Notwithstanding, who has and who has not benefited from the change implies that there has not been a correlation favoring emerging nations; indeed, Scotland and Wales have benefitted with examples being Jack Dempsey, Alec Hepburn, and Henry Thomas while homegrown-centric teams including Georgia and Uruguay have not.

Jack Dempsey played for Australia at Rugby World Cup 2019 against Georgia and Uruguay and for Scotland at Rugby World Cup 2023 against Tonga. He is neither from Scotland nor a homegrown Scottish player. Similarly, Henry Thomas changed teams to play at a World Cup against Tier 2 teams. He also played for Wales vs Georgia in 2023. Such examples question the vision of senior World Rugby staff regarding eligibility law changes. World Rugby chief executive, Alan Gilpin, argued that the eligibility change will boost the global game.

The eligibility law changes were made despite prior controversies including the disqualification of teams from World Cup Qualifying due to fielding former u20 players from other countries. For instance, Spain was disqualified from RWC 2019 qualifiers with Mathieu Bélie and Bastien Fuster deemed captured based on having played for France vs Wales at u20 level. The policy which saw Bélie and Fuster captured no longer exists and France now has a rookie player from Australia aged 31 who previously played for Australia u20.

An additional case during Beaumont’s tenure saw World Rugby disqualifying Romania from Rugby World Cup 2019 after Sione Faka’osilea was confirmed as having already been captured by Tonga. The result was Russia replaced Romania at Rugby World Cup 2019.

More than two decades ago, Russia was expelled by World Rugby (then IRB) from RWC 2003 qualifying. It happened following World Cup controversy involving Scotland and Wales. Dave Hilton was not eligible for Scotland and Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson were not eligible for Wales. Scotland and Wales were free to compete at RWC 2023 and World Rugby is yet to publicly overturn results from 1999 to correct the match outcomes to be 28-0 wins for Scotland and Wales’ RWC 1999 opponents.

This article documents foreign-born players in the 2026 Six Nations. It identifies who they are and how they qualify together with sources. In addition, the article identifies whether or not the players are homegrown; that is, where players were developed prior to their senior careers. Doing so assists in determining comparative success of individual unions in developing from age groups.

Homegrown players are identified by the color blue in the homegrown category in the respective tables. Players shown in this color are products of the team they are representing. That is to say, the team they represent is primarily responsible for the player’s development. Red indicates that the player is the product of the rugby systems of a different country.

Click here to read about Homegrown / Foreign Born at Rugby World Cup 2023

Click here to read about Homegrown / Foreign Born players in the 2025 Rugby Championship

Click here to read about Homegrown / Foreign Born players in the 2025 Six Nations

This is an original work researched and written by Paul Tait of Americas Rugby News.

Gregor Townsend’s Scotland is captained by Sione Tuipulotu. He is Australian born and raised and has junior representative honors for Australia. He is one of eight members of the roster with representative honors for a rival. Countryman Jack Dempsey played for the Wallabies at Rugby World Cup 2019 and his father did not want him to play for Scotland.

Residency qualified players Tom Jordan, Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe moved to Scotland on professional rugby contracts as adults as did Jack Dempsey, Sione Tuipulotu, Nathan McBeth, and Kyle Steyn.

Winger Kyle Rowe is the exception as he qualifies for Scotland via residency and was raised in Scotland. The remaining foreign-born players are all products of rival rugby systems, meaning they are not homegrown Scottish players. Scrum-Half Ben White is a former England U20 captain and played for England. Fly Half Fergus Burke turned down playing for England. He is New Zealand born and raised.

Adam Hastings is Scotland born and homegrown but did spend some pre-adult years in England where he attended Millfield School. Center Huw Jones, who was born in Scotland, is not homegrown. He moved to England aged two and, like Hastings, he also attended Millfield School.

HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2026 SIX NATIONS – 14
2025 SIX NATIONS – 22
2024 SIX NATIONS – 24
2023 SIX NATIONS – 22
2022 SIX NATIONS – 27
2021 SIX NATIONS – 23
2019 SIX NATIONS– 19
2018 SIX NATIONS – 23
2017 SIX NATIONS – 18
2016 SIX NATIONS – 14

SCOTLAND
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 26/40 (65%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 14/40 (35%)

Steve Tandy’s Wales enter the Six Nations with a roster of thirty-eight players, nine of whom were not born in Wales. Of the men born abroad, Ben Carter and Josh MacLeod moved to Wales as children. Ben Carter did so  weeks after his birth.

The Welsh roster also contains two Welsh-born players who are not homegrown based on their ages when they moved as children and where they played their rugby. Taine Plumtree was recruited to Wales as a professional rugby player from Super Rugby while James Botham spent a large part of his upbringing in England. He came off the production line at Sedbergh school in Cumbria. Botham attended school in England from year 9 as a boarder.

Like Taine Plumtree, Wales Rugby staff recruited Blair Murray from New Zealand as an adult while Ellis Mee was scouted from England. Murray arrived in Wales from New Zealand on a professional rugby contract, debuting for the Scarlets two months before debuting for Wales against Fiji at the age of 23.

Sam Costelow is Welsh born and raised though did spend some pre-adult years in England at Oakham School. Similarly, Louie Hennessey and Louis Rees-Zammit spent pre-adult years in England at Hartpury College but constitute homegrown Welsh players. Another example is second-rower Dafydd Jenkins who spent two years of his schooling in England.

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2025 SIX NATIONS – 12
2024 SIX NATIONS – 5
2023 SIX NATIONS – 7
2022 SIX NATIONS – 13
2021 SIX NATIONS – 12
2019 SIX NATIONS – 9
2018 SIX NATIONS – 9
2017 SIX NATIONS – 10
2016 SIX NATIONS – 13

WALES
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 29/38 (76.3%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 9/38 (23.6%)

Gonzalo Quesada’s 33-man Italian roster includes eight foreign-born players. Hooker Muhamad Hasa is the one foreign-born player who is homegrown. He was born in Tirana, Albania in 2001 and moved to Italy at the age of ten. Hasa and Pablo Dimcheff are the only two forwards not born in Italy.

The roster consists of Hasa and Montana Ioane and players qualifying via residency. The remaining players born abroad qualify on ancestry grounds with four of the six doing so via a grandparent. The Argentine pairing of Pablo Dimcheff and Juan Ignacio Brex both went through Argentina’s High Performance system which Quesada previously worked for.

Louis Lynagh was born but raised in England. He is the son of Australian great Michael Lynagh and brother of contemporary Wallaby, Tom Lynagh. Louis Lynagh moved to England aged 4 while fellow winger Edoardo Todaro moved to England for studies at the age of 14.

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2025 SIX NATIONS – 9
2024 SIX NATIONS – 8
2023 SIX NATIONS – 7
2022 SIX NATIONS – 14
2021 SIX NATIONS – 10
2019 SIX NATIONS – 9
2018 SIX NATIONS – 8
2017 SIX NATIONS – 8
2016 SIX NATIONS – 10

ITALY
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 24/33 (72.7%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 8/33 (24.2%)

Andy Farrell’s 37-man Irish roster contains seven foreign-born players. In the case of Ireland this means seven players were not born in either the Republic of Ireland or in Northern Ireland. Seven is the lowest number of foreign-born players on an Irish Six Nations roster since the 2019 campaign.

Three of Farrell’s foreign-born players are homegrown. On the one hand, Jeremy Loughman moved to Ireland aged 12 while Joe McCarthy and Ciarán Frawley both arrived in Ireland at the age of 3. On the other hand, Irish-born Tom O’Toole was born in Ireland but went through the Australian system including playing for the Queensland School Boys and a Queensland Reds development side.

Ireland’s Australian connection includes not only Frawley and O’Toole but also Finlay Bealham. He moved to Ireland aged 18 and subsequently played for Ireland at u20 level and eventually became a professional player.

There is also a notable New Zealand contingent with a trio of players having signed from New Zealand Super Rugby franchises as professional adult rugby players with the deliberate purpose of meeting the residency requirements, via eligibility laws, to play for Ireland. Center Bundee Aki arrived in Ireland aged 24, scrum-half Jamison Ratu Gibson-Park aged 24 and winger James Lowe arrived aged 25. Commenting on his own eligibility for Ireland via residency James Lowe said “it’s a stupid rule.”

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2025 SIX NATIONS – 9
2024 SIX NATIONS – 8
2023 SIX NATIONS – 10
2022 SIX NATIONS – 9
2021 SIX NATIONS – 8
2019 SIX NATIONS – 7
2018 SIX NATIONS – 9
2017 SIX NATIONS – 6
2016 SIX NATIONS – 9

IRELAND
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 32/37 (86.4%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 7/37 (18.9%)

ENGLAND

Steve Borthwick’s 36-man England roster contains six players not born in England. This is double the number selected for the 2025 Six Nations. Notwithstanding, five of the six roster members born outside of England are homegrown players.

The roster contains two non-homegrown players: Chandler Cunningham-South and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. Cunningham-South was born in England but raised in New Zealand and is a product of the New Zealand rugby system. Feyi-Waboso was both born and raised in Wales and as recently as 2023 had dreams of playing for Wales.

The roster also has a Scottish connection as Bevan Rodd was born in Scotland but left when he was nine months old. He grew up in Dubai, the Isle of Man, and England. In addition, former Scotland u16s and u18s captain, Fraser Dingwall is included. Dingwall is both English born and homegrown. He went on to captain England u20s before ultimately playing test match rugby for England.

Marcus Smith, whose father played rugby for Hong Kong, was born in the Philippines and first played rugby in Singapore. He moved to England aged 13. Smith and Bevan Rodd both represented England u18s and u20s. Winger Henry Arundell also played for England u20s. Arundell was born on the Royal Airfare Base in Dhekelia, a British overseas territory on the island of Cyprus. It is not part of England but is part of the British sovereign state.

Emmanuel Iyogun is also homegrown. He was born in Spain and started playing rugby aged 14 in England. Like Iyogun, fellow roster members Maro Itoje, and Max Ojomoh have Nigerian parents and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has a Nigerian grandparent.

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2025 SIX NATIONS – 3
2024 SIX NATIONS – 6
2023 SIX NATIONS – 5
2022 SIX NATIONS – 6
2021 SIX NATIONS – 2
2019 SIX NATIONS – 8
2018 SIX NATIONS – 11
2017 SIX NATIONS – 7
2016 SIX NATIONS – 8

ENGLAND
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 34/36 (94.4%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 6/36 (16.6%)

Fabien Galthié’s roster is much changed from the previous Six Nations but, like from the 2025, it contains six foreign-born players. Of them Dany Priso is the only one who was eligible to play for France prior to adulthood.

Veteran Uini Atonio has over a decade of experience playing for Les Bleus while fellow tight head Tevita Tatafu is at the other end of his career. Tatafu moved to France aged 17.

Uncapped winger Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang moved to France to pursue a professional rugby career at age 19. He has previous experience playing for France 7’s as well as representative duty in his native England.

Three second-rowers are not homegrown players. Emmanuel Meafou and Tom Staniforth have both been lost to the Wallabies, both players arrived in France as professional rugby players as products of the Australian system. The former became eligible in late 2023 while the later recently became eligible for France at the age of 31.

The second-row position demonstrates a disproportionate selection of foreign-born players by Galthié. In addition to Tom Staniforth and Emmanuel Meafou, Canadian Tyler Duguid was capped by France in mid 2025 and France previously used Paul Willemse, who has now retired, heavily.

The roster also contains Peato Mauvaka, Yoram Moefana and Rodrigue Neti. The three players were born in the Overseas French territory of New Caledonia. The classification means territories outside of Europe that remain a part of the French state. They all moved to France in their teens. Mauvaka arrived in the hexagon at the age of 15, Moefana aged 13 and Neti did so aged 17.

FOREIGN-BORN HISTORICAL NUMBERS
2025 SIX NATIONS – 6
2024 SIX NATIONS – 6
2023 SIX NATIONS – 4
2022 SIX NATIONS – 4
2021 SIX NATIONS – 4
2019 SIX NATIONS – 3
2018 SIX NATIONS – 3
2017 SIX NATIONS – 4
2016 SIX NATIONS – 4

FRANCE
HOMEGROWN PLAYERS: 36/42 (85.7%)
FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS: 6/42 (14.2%)