He has made it clear he’s “fully embedded” in the Irish rugby culture
It’s been nearly two weeks since Andy Farrell announced his Lions squad, including 15 Irish, 13 English, 8 Scots and 2 Welsh.
The squad contains a number of players not born in any of these countries. Irish players such as James Lowe, Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and Mack Hansen all fall under this tag.
James Lowe, who grew up in New Zealand, actually played against the Lions in the 2017 series in New Zealand, for the Maori All Blacks. The Irish wing would move to Leinster that same year, qualifying for Ireland by playing there for three years, and winning his first international cap in 2020.
The residency rule was increased to five years in May 2017. That didn’t prevent the likes of Ireland and Lions legend, Willie John McBride, displaying his unhappiness about the amount of non-native players in the squad.
McBride was bothered by the eight such members in the squad, as back in his day “the team consisted of only native players”.
Lowe has now responded to his allegiance being questioned, acknowledging that by not having “the blood running through your veins” there will be those questions.
The Leinster wing said: “When I was first selected for Ireland, all the people come out of the woodwork saying, ‘How is this person representing Ireland?’”
“The rules were there. We’ve all done our time and we’re fully embedded in the culture of Irish rugby.”
