Foreign-born stars James Lowe and Sione Tuipulotu ‘all in’ with the Lions

Sione Tuipulotu and James Lowe. An Australian accent and a Kiwi accent. One has a Scottish grandmother, the other has Irish citizenship. Both are now British & Irish Lions, a fact that does not sit comfortably with one of the greats to have worn the jersey.

Willie John McBride, who played 70 games for the Lions over five tours, said recently that he was bothered by the number of players in the squad not born in Britain and Ireland. “That’s how things have changed over the past 60 years,” he said. “In my day, the team consisted only of native players.”

The world has certainly changed, with natural migration, multinational families and the globalisation of professional rugby, but it has never been quite as straightforward

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