Would the staff of the fifteen of France monitor a player without knowing that he is ineligible? This is probably the case since, as we indicated in an article published this Thursday, Fabien Galthié and his deputies, in particular William Servat, are following with an interested eye the progress of the right pillar of Stade Toulousain Joel Merkler.
A four-time starter with the French champions in March, the young fellow (1.94 m, 135 kg), who arrived in Toulouse at the age of 16 (he is 22 today), has the particularity of being born in Gelida, in the Barcelona region, and to have seven caps with the Spanish A team, the last in November 2022. Everyone knows that.
What you also need to know is that the young man’s father was born in England. This detail will be important. If the French fifteen consider that Merkler is part of the solutions to support Uini Atonio at the 2027 World Cup in Australia or, why not, succeed him beforehand, he risks hitting a wall, that of the World Rugby regulations.
Paragraph 8.6, entitled “Transfer for birthright”, mentions that a player who has represented a federation (Spain for Merkler) can request to represent a new federation provided that “the said player meets the eligibility criteria stipulated to regulation 8.1(a) or 8.1(b) with regard to the new federation”.
England, on the other hand, can seriously consider it
These very first criteria, called authentic, close and credible national bond, take precedence over that of three years of abstention without representing its first federation. There are three types: either the player was born in the second country he wants to represent, or one of his parents was born there, or one of his grandparents was born there.
However, neither Joel Merkler, nor one of his parents, nor even one of his grandparents were born in France. On the other hand, the staff of the fifteen de la Rose would have excellent reasons to track Merkler since his father was born there.
Rugby legislation is not completely clear, we must point out that a possibility as twisted as it is extravagant exists if the Blues staff counts on Merkler at all costs. It would be necessary to activate “Olympic Transfer” and therefore have the right pillar of 135 kg play one of the 7-a-side Olympic qualifying tournaments, the next one not having to take place before the 2026-2027 season. Merkler still needs to have a French passport and the Spanish Olympic committee must give its approval…
