Talk:Rugby union in South Africa

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"English speaking white South Africans ... often opt to represent England rather than South Africa"

I strongly feel this statement should go. It reads as if most English South Africans do just that, when in reality there've been relatively few. Feel free to list all the examples (including those who've chosen Australia, France etc), but the statement as it reads now doesn't accurately represent matters. Greenman 00:45, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Most no but a significant number. Of the present England elite squad both Stuart Abbott and Mike Catt were born in South Africa. They are two out of only four elite players not born in England (Perry Freshwater and van Gisbergen being New Zealand born).

If you look down the corresponding list of Springbok current players there aren't very many anglo names, perhaps one or two of them are white English speakers despite Afrikaaner names but I wouldn't think more than that. Percy Montgomery is Namibian by birth in any case.GordyB 12:42, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Actually, when Montgomery was born, his home town of Walvis Bay was part of South Africa. It was only turned over to Namibia in 1994. — Dale Arnett 04:27, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Stating two examples of people born in South Africa (who both had English parents, one of whom was playing in England well before South Africa was back in international rugby), and moving from there to the claim that English-speaking South Africans often opt to represent England is quite a jump...Greenman 12:46, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

English speaking South Africans often do have English parents and if they did not at least have an English grandparent they wouldn't be eligible. That's a fairly circular argument. How about we substitute the sentence for a paragraph on South Africans playing for 'foreign' teams, there's quite a few.GordyB 12:52, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

OK! Beats continuing our discussion along the lines of whether English-speaking South Africans often have English parents/grandparents :) Greenman 21:00, 8 September 2006 (UTC)