CJ Stander plays down residency rule change

CJ Stander has little hope that the change in residency rules voted for this week by World Rugby will reduce the heat he has been feeling as a South African wearing a different hue of green.

The Munster back row is far from the only non-native player to wear the Irish jersey but he has become something of a lightning rod for those opposed to the old rule whereby a player who hadn’t previously played senior rugby for his country of birth could declare for another after a three-year residency.

The new ruling extending that eligibility period for ‘project players’, as they are called in Ireland, from 36 months to 60 was voted in at a World Rugby Council meeting in Kyoto yesterday. Driven by vice-chairman former Argentina international Agustin Pichot, it has been hailed as a game-changer.