Issue of Hanno Dirksen's Nationality

Reading this article http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Hanno-Dirksen-best-say-Ospreys/story-15655391-detail/story.html it is claimed that he will be unable to play for wales any time soon as hes been operating in this country under a student visa. i personally think this is a shame as hes a quality talent? any one agree?

Tuilagi managed it with a six-month tourist visa

Ah, well, there goes another one.

According to the commentary on tonight's match Dirksen would be able to play for Wales next season. Although he was born in South Africa, and raised in the USA and would therefore be able to play for them also, he hasn't yet. Also according to the commentator today, Dirksen wants to play for Wales.

I don't think Dirksen is qualified for USA any more is he? He wasn't born there and are any of his parents American? If not then he's got no chance with SA. He played for their junior team I think but that was it.

HammerofThunor wrote:I don't think Dirksen is qualified for USA any more is he? He wasn't born there and are any of his parents American? If not then he's got no chance with SA. He played for their junior team I think but that was it.

If a player moves out of a country does the residency rule automatically stop or is it still valid until somebody caps him ?

Stops I'm pretty sure.

Thomond wrote:Stops I'm pretty sure.

Cheers mate

It definitely stops. Hape moved to Bradford in 2003. However he didn't qualify for England until 2010. You need to have 3 continuous years of permanent residency immediately before being capped.

Wasn't there a 'Scottish' player who sold his house a couple of months before being capped (he was moving back to England). Therefore he couldn't be capped by Scotland.

I read on the Ospreys facebook site that Dirksen doesn't qualify until 2014

HammerofThunor wrote:If not then he's got no chance with SA. He played for their junior team I think but that was it.

Oh dear, the name Shingler comes to mind with that one.

biltongbek wrote:Ah, well, there goes another one.

A bad one to lose also, he is a really talented young man and Watermeyer also looks a good lad.

Still if their both capped you have an excuse to support Wales!

Cymroglan wrote:Tuilagi managed it with a six-month tourist visa

Of course he did. As a thirteen year-old his application would have been accepted?

To save anyone the bother Dirksen is not international material - For me he's also South African but lets not go there again

If Dirksen isn't international material Gubby then we're screwed if Cuthbert or North gets injured, looking at the rest of the Welsh wingers!

gowales wrote:If Dirksen isn't international material Gubby then we're screwed if Cuthbert or North gets injured, looking at the rest of the Welsh wingers!

Yea didn't phrase that very well.
What i mean is that if you don't consider Dirksen international material then what about the rest of the Welsh qualified wingers? I haven't seen any Welsh qualified winger playing as well as him. Robinson will be excellent in the future but that's about it! Liam Williams is too slow to be a winger, Brew is going to Perpignan and was never good enough anyway, Tom James... , Phillips? Prydie?...

I hate that terminology, qualified. It sends the wrong message in my opinion.

Welsh qualified, English qualified.

They should scrap that word from the dictionary. It should be Welsh, English, South African etc.

Strangely enough Stoddard was the form wing prior to his injury, 1/2p and Jamie Roberts can still play there - I'd like to see Hughes from the Dragons in a decent team, Fenby is showing some form and for me Brew offers more than the young Saffer who for me is a bit one dimensional and lacks real pace

Why Bilton - he's not welsh and never will be so to describe him as such is misleading

So Hughes and Fenby have real pace? Yet to see that Guby...

gowales wrote:So Hughes and Fenby have real pace? Yet to see that Guby...

You have a point - lets see how Dirksen develops and we'll come back to it - I have probs with foreigners and residency rules

RubyGuby wrote:Why Bilton - he's not welsh and never will be so to describe him as such is misleading

What does it mean when a player becomes Welsh or English qualified?

From my understanding it means he may now repesent that country. If he is selelcted he is welsh for the purpose of rugby. If he says no I don't want to represent Wales then he remians South African.

The situation where there are a number of foreigners qualified to represent countries makes it sound dirty, it sounds like poachers coming to the Kruger National park looking for Rhino's to kill just for their horns.

biltongbek wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:Why Bilton - he's not welsh and never will be so to describe him as such is misleading

What does it mean when a player becomes Welsh or English qualified?

From my understanding it means he may now repesent that country. If he is selelcted he is welsh for the purpose of rugby. If he says no I don't want to represent Wales then he remians South African.

The situation where there are a number of foreigners qualified to represent countries makes it sound dirty, it sounds like poachers coming to the Kruger National park looking for Rhino's to kill just for their horns.

Or in Wales it's like men coming to the Brecon Beacons in the dark of night looking for a Sheep just for it's .... fluffyness'!

Sorry Smirnoff but you really need to go to Llandovery rather than Brecon for fluffyness

Has the saying become 'red light at night shepherd's delight'?

Having Dirksen at our disposal would undoubtedly be a plus from what he's achieved in his first full season for the O's. Nevertheless, I'm still not keen on exploiting the residency rule. I don't like it when others do and I must live by the same standards. You shouldn't play for a country if you're not a citizen.

RubyGuby wrote:Sorry Smirnoff but you really need to go to Llandovery rather than Brecon for fluffyness

Depends on if you like your 'fluff' with a bit of an edge to it (rough with the smooth)...

To be honest I am not keen on him playing for Wales on the grounds that the way he was brought in by Johnson has real shades of the whole grannygate era. Also I think he is not really up to the standards of North, Cuthbert, or Halfpenny, and is IMO probably behind Liam Williams, Aled Brew, Morgan Stoddart and Eli Walker too. More on a par with Thom James, where he is good at running hard, but that is about it.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:To be honest I am not keen on him playing for Wales on the grounds that the way he was brought in by Johnson has real shades of the whole grannygate era. Also I think he is not really up to the standards of North, Cuthbert, or Halfpenny, and is IMO probably behind Liam Williams, Aled Brew, Morgan Stoddart and Eli Walker too. More on a par with Thom James, where he is good at running hard, but that is about it.

Nah. Dirksen is good, Walker is pretty crap.

go - from what I have seen they are just different styles, Walker seems more sliky and Dirksen seems more like a flanker that was too little and too fast to be allowed to play with the forwards.

I just don't really rate Walker at all i guess. Good thing about Dirksen though, is that he can catch a ball and tackle

gowales wrote:I just don't really rate Walker at all i guess. Good thing about Dirksen though, is that he can catch a ball and tackle

Yeah he can tackle there is no arguing that at all, and I think he enjoys it too. However, i think that may be why I dislike him (appart from looking too much like Fussel), his tackling does show that he is a saffer, as it is IMO quite often a bit illegal. I remember the match against the Dragons (LV=??) I don't thin he put in one clean tackle all game.