The Silver Fern

@Stargazer

Yeah its pretty shit, there have been a lot of NZ born and bred citizens that have declared for PI teams and then had to swiftly move to the NH. The NZRUs reasoning is that the All Blacks are the number 1 priority and the Super Rugby teams only exist in essence to strengthen the All Blacks. The NZRU pays the salaries of all the Super Rugby players and they don't want to pay and develop players for other nations, at the expense of an All Blacks qualified player who could be in that spot. Its also there as a warning to players not to declare for other nations.I see the logic, but its pretty cutthroat. Lamborn would be foolish if he didn't know, its fairly common knowledge and he has to have an agent that let him know. On the plus side if any Hurricanes loose forwards get injured or Blade Thompson doesn't come back from concussion hes probably allowed straight back in given that he knows the systems and its a pretty easy argument to make.

As for Riccitelli, you can see why he left as he was never really a prop. He can cover there but if hes going to go on to higher honours its going to be at hooker and theres no chance for him to play there in the bay.

@Stargazer

The rule on overseas players is that if they can't be selected for the All Blacks then they are considered overseas players. So, Tony Lamborn, Tim Nanai-Williams, Digby Ioane etc all count as overseas players even though they were born here, because they are no longer All Black eligible. Its the same with the guys who play Japanese rugby in the super rugby offseason, like Cory Jane, Tanerau Latimer and Tamati Ellison a few years ago. Because they are signed up during the international window, they can't play for the All Blacks during that time so they are considered overseas players.

Interestingly, Sam Lousi is not an overseas player because he was born in New Zealand and hasn't played international rugby for another country. Eligible for All Blacks = Not overseas.

Also, there is no minimum or maximum number of overseas players a team is allowed. Teams have to ask the NZRU for dispensation for every overseas player on a case-by-case basis. They have to say which player they want to sign, what role they want him for, and they have to prove that there are no other available players in New Zealand that can fill that role. The Highlanders were able to show that there wasn't enough prop depth, so they could sign Halanukonuka and Geldenhuys as well as having Tanaka. Then when they had wing injuries they were able to show that English capped Jack Wilson was the only suitable replacement, giving them 4 overseas players.

In the case of Lamborn, Jane is the Hurricanes only overseas player, but the Hurricanes weren't able to make the argument that there were no other NZ qualified options for his role. As good as he is, he was just a squad looseforward for the Hurricanes and there are tons of them to go around, Bedwell-Curtis for instance is arguably just as good and he has only just got his first super rugby contract this year, probably as a result of Halafihi being bumped up opening a spot somewhere else.

Also, Ricciteli to Taranaki is all but a done deal, along with Jordie Barrett.