KEY POINTS:
Those tired of all the bleating from foreign scribes who say the All Blacks have creamed the best rugby talent from the Pacific can relax - New Zealand is mid-table in the player poaching stakes.
A rugby World Cup blog on local website www.publicaddress.net argues that New Zealand
is among the moderate offenders of alleged talent-poaching in rugby, with roughly a quarter of the All Blacks' World Cup squad born overseas.
It found that 73 per cent of the All Blacks were born in New Zealand and of the eight born outside New Zealand, five (Jerry Collins, Chris Masoe, Mils Muliaina, Rodney So'oialo and Isaia Toeava) were born in Samoa, two (Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu) in Fiji and Sione Lauaki in Tonga.
But it also argues the majority of these players moved here as youngsters with their families and were schooled here.
The statistics show the All Blacks mid-table.
They are followed closely by the recently-eliminated Welsh, who have four English-born, a New Zealander (Sonny Parker), a South African and a Namibian in their 30-man squad.
Compare that to the United States - admittedly one of the lesser lights of the tournament - who have a team with less than half of their players born there.
Even the US coach, former All Black selector Peter Thorburn, was born here.
The American team, which sounds more like the beginning of a classic joke, is made up of four Tongans, three South Africans, an American Samoan, a New Zealander (Hayden Mexted from Whakatane), a Zimbabwean, a Mexican and a Fijian.
Former All Black and Manu Samoa winger, Va'aiga (Inga) Tuigamala, says the mixed make-up of international teams was likely to continue if the International Rugby Board did not act quickly to provide better opportunities for Pacific Island players.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you saw Pacific Islanders playing for England in the next five years because the opportunities are so much better," he said.
Tuigamala, who played 19 tests for the All Blacks, said the IRB needed to set fairer rules for players no longer wanted by their adopted countries.
"Sam Tuitupou is a fantastic player but it's unlikely he will ever play for the All Blacks again, so can you imagine how much of a boost that would be for Tongan rugby to have him in their side.
"The IRB talks about expanding and promoting the game but how can they when so many of the world's best players are sitting back here unable to play for either New Zealand or their country of origin?"
Scotland, with nine of its 10 overseas players born in either England or Australia, had the highest number of foreign players out of the home nations.
European rugby minnows Romania and Georgia had no foreign-born players in their squads for the World Cup.
