Does He Look Scottish

THE current dispute between Scotland and Wales over the eligibility of London Irish centre Steven Shingler will exercise the brains of the IRB this week.

One might have thought that after the Welsh RU's problems over what is now known as "Grannygate" and Scotland's embarrassement following the discovery that Dave Hilton ought never to have been capped by Scotland, due diligence would have been exercised before Shingler was named in the preliminary Six Nations training group.

This was brought home to me this morning, while following She Who Must Be Obeyed round some charity shops in Ayr. My partner is a zealot when it comes to seeking-out real bargains in such establishments and the pair of brand new, leather gloves which she found for me today definitely comes under such a heading.

But, for me the real find of this morning's trawl was a book: 'The Rugby Union Football Book', published in 1968 by Purnell. The blurb on the front describes the book as: "Rugby's leading commentators on the modern game, the way it is played and its clubs, coaches and outstanding personalities" - edited by Jack Cox.

Cliff Morgan, Vivian Jenkins, JBG Thomas, Michael Green, David Frost, Rupert Cherry, they, and others contributed and already, I have found some gems in there. At £2, a veritable bargain - almost as good as the rare Jimmy Greenwood coaching book which I got for 50p in a second-hand book shop in Wigtown last year.

One article which had me chortling was on page 91. There was no by-line, which makes me think Editor Cox had written it, but this short article calls for revision of the qualification rules for international sides.

The story refers to how London Welsh teams of the time had a few players who were not "Welsh" in the accepted sense. There is a reference too to John Robins, who won a "Victory" cap for England in 1945, before in 1950, winning the first of his 11 Welsh caps and going on the 1950 Lions Tour as: JD Robins (Birkinhead Park and Wales), appearing in five of the Lions' international on that tour.

Then there was oor ain Dr Doug Keller, who played in all five internationals for Australia on their 1947-48 tour to the British Isles and France, remained in London and won seven caps for Scotland, even captaining the team.

So, dual-nationality internationalists are nothing new and, the fact that it was being openly discussed forty-odd years ago merely indicates two things - the Shingler case is not new and, it is way past time for rugby to tighten-up international eligibility rules.