Well England Kingston Rovers would attract less than it already does if we fill it with Aussies and Kiwis who weren't good enough for their actual nation.

Bren.

You're talking tripe.

Go read my posts on the VT before commenting. If not, don't comment.

Just for Bren (and the others) because I know he wouldn't go and do some research

That was posted on 2nd Oct.

Chase announced his switch on 3rd.

Go figure - like I say, I support improving our squad regardless of nationality, as long as they haven't played for another country before or we have a dearth of players in line better than them and there's no need for them to be there.

An international nomad who has played for just one recognised full international team? Hardly nomadic is it?

First rule of being bigoted - don't let any facts get in the way of a good rant!

You know as well as I do that if the Kiwi's would have had him, he'd have played for them; as he said not long ago, it was his boyhood dream. Funny how he only started supping pints of bitter in a Union Jack waistcoat AFTER his country of origin overlooked him again, don't you think?

His selection is a joke to just about everyone outside of Cas and if he hadn't been a Cas player, it would have been a joke to most of you too; not Fully of course, who can prove his credentials by quoting his own posts on an internet message board.

Yep...didn't Chase declare for England BEFORE the Kiwi squad was announced?

Not really. It would be hypocritical of me to criticise Rangi's selection having wholeheartedly followed the England Cricket team for years and put my support behind all the guys, whether born in England or not. It also seems a touch hypocritical to support a host of players in a team called Castleford Tigers who don't have a birth or residency qualification to represent the town.

Still, you obviously know best, and speak for "just about everyone" too. What it must be to have been in communication with so many of the World's population.

There are plenty of wakefield fans slating him as a player, his nationality is another issue.

Can anyone tell me now that he's qualified through residency and now he's actually played for England does he actually need a visa to play anymore?

Can anyone else see steam coming out of Bren's avatar? I think he is on the brink of bursting something. Cas fans may show a little bias but it can easily be turned the other way. We have a joke of an international game which nobody cared about. All of a sudden, Rangi starts playing for England and all these die hard England 'fans' are outraged . Face it, we have no media attention, no publicity, and half the times the RL fans don't even know there is an international game on. At least Rangi playing for England made the papers.

Tricky this, I do think the eligibility rules need to be looked at, with the whole Scotland, Ireland, Wales eligibility swapping around more than I change my socks. So, that aside. Was Rangi MOTM, hmm, debutants often get a bit of a honeymoon vote and I think this is what happened.

I think Sky were ill considered when 2 of the 3 on pitch interviews were with southern hemisphere accents! That said Reed and Widdop qualify on birth so there is absolutely no question on their selection.

I don't blame Steve Mac for picking Rangi if he is elligible, but the rules do need looking at. On the whole though, decent debut from Rangi and if he does play more regularly for England, then it can only help our sport and club profile, so I am happy.

Just imagine now strong Fiji or Tonga may have been if the Aussie/Kiwis hadn't poached their best players, we might have had a 5 nations with a bit of credibility.

Seems like some folk will jump at any chance for a good gripe at anything even loosely related to Castleford...

The bottom line is that Rangi Chase, irrespective of his club side, is qualified to play for England. Some people don't like that - to be honest I'm not over the moon at how the international selection criteria are laid down - but let's face it, it's sod all to do with Rangi, Castleford, you or me. The rules are the rules and that's that - it just so happens that the rules have allowed Rangi to show his new allegiance and have gifted England one of the best halves we've had in a long time. Rangi isn't breaking any rules, and if he's felt so welcome in England to want to 'become' English then that's fine by me. There's plenty of precedent for this sort of thing and not just when it comes to England. Strange that most of Cas' rival fans didn't give much of a damn about all that's gone before though - certainly not on the scale we're seeing over Rangi. Is anyone equally distraught that (eg) Anthony Minicello is turning out for Italy? Thought not.

I thought he had a good, solid game vs France and I think it'll get better too. well done Rangi.