A Minnows XV

In honour of Tom Johnson getting named in the England side for his first senior cap, I was thinking about players who could have played for minnow nations (also thought about it when someone mentioned it about Denton in the Scotland/Australia game). I'm talking real minnows here, so we'll ignore the Six Nations up here, the 4 Nations down south and Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, who are all firmly established as rugby nations.

Note: this thread isn't questioning eligibility or arguing the right for certain players to represent certain countries, it's just about talented players who have played top level International rugby who could have represented much smaller nations.

The rules are current players and that they must have been qualified for the minnow country before they were capped for their eventual country.

Revised team:

1. Tendai Mtawarira (Zimbabwe)
2. Stephen Moore (Saudi Arabia)
3. Alex Corbisiero (USA)
4. Simon Shaw (Kenya)
5. Courtney Lawes (Jamaica)
6. Tom Johnson (Germany)
7. Thierry Dusautoir (Ivory Coast)
8. David Denton (Zimbabwe)

9. Will Genia (Papua New Guinea)
10. Ronan O'Gara (USA)
11. Tim Visser (Netherlands)
12. Wesley Fofana (Mali)
13. Mathieu Bastareaud (Guadalope)
14. Charlie Sharples (Hong Kong)
15. Francois Trinh-Duc (Vietnam)

Also nominated:
Delon Armitage (Trinidad & Tobago)
Topsy Ojo (Nigeria)
Josh Navidi (Iran)
Magnus Lund (Norway)
David Pocock (Zimbabwe)
Jamie Heaslip (Israel)
Jerome Kaino (American Samoa)
John Barclay (Hong Kong)
Zee Ngwenya (Zimbabwe)
Tonderai Chavhanga (Zimbabwe)
Fulgence Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)
Dmitri Yachvili (Georgia)
Graham Morrison (Hong Kong)
Ayoola Erinle (Nigeria)

You could pop Magnus Lund (Flanker) on the bench, his old man was a Norwegen basketball player who settled in the UK. His brother Erik is the Norwegen captain.

Josh Navidi although not a full internation yet qualifies for Iran (i think its Iran) via his father. Another Flanker.

Topsy Ojo Nigeria maybe. Winger/Center

Struggling on that second lock though.

I know you already have a 7 but you could have had pocock in there he is from zimbabwe

Put O'Connell in at 5. Hes not human!

I think Francois Trin-Duc qualifies for Vietnam?

From a while back now Gregory Kacala who won the european cup with Brive and then played for Cardiff in the back row and was a great player played for Poland. He was definitely good enough to play for a top international team.

Jamie Heaslip was born in Israel.
Jerome Kaino is from American Samoa (not Samoa)

Georgie Gregan (9) ,Bob Skinstand (8) qualify for Zambia and Zimbabwe and Corne Krige Zambia (7) Zambia

Pocock (Zimbabwae) and Dusatoir (Ivory Coast) makes or a pretty deadly backrow.

Isn't Hartley from Zimbabwae too? Or somewhere in Africa?

Lawes' father is from Jamaica.

Fofana's father is from Mali.

Bastareaud's family come from Guadeloupe.

Gregan was born in Zambia

Shane Williams is a minnow. If he were caught on a fishing line, he'd be thrown back.

Serge Blanco was born in Venezuela

So easy! so the rules are you pick players who have played for a good / top nations but could of played for a minnow?

15
14 George North (England)
13 Jonathan Davies (England)
12
11 Alex Cuthbert (England)
10
9
8
7
6 Dan Lydiate (England)
5 Luke Charteris (England)
4 Aaron Shingler (England)
3
2
1

Well I made a good start.

Was going to post the exact same article yesterday haha!

John Barclay - Hong kong
Zee Ngwenya - Zimbabwe
Tonderai Chavhanga - Zimbabwe
Fulgence Ouedraogo - Burkina Faso

Zimbabwe could have fielded an amazing team! An Africa Barbarians would be interesting too.

CurlyOsp wrote:Was going to post the exact same article yesterday haha!

John Barclay - Hong kong
Zee Ngwenya - Zimbabwe
Tonderai Chavhanga - Zimbabwe
Fulgence Ouedraogo - Burkina Faso

Zimbabwe could have fielded an amazing team! An Africa Barbarians would be interesting too.

An African-origin Barbarians could actually be a great idea to spread the game there. Either play against some of the stronger African teams, (Namibia, Kenya?) or maybe select recently retired players if you want to play some of the weaker nations. It was amazing how the whole of Africa got behind the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Ghana when they progressed to the quarter-final stage, and I think possibly having some of the biggest names on the planet playing on the continent could do wonders for African rugby. Some good suggestions here, and I'm glad we've found some better centres than Erinle!

robbo277 wrote:

CurlyOsp wrote:Was going to post the exact same article yesterday haha!

John Barclay - Hong kong
Zee Ngwenya - Zimbabwe
Tonderai Chavhanga - Zimbabwe
Fulgence Ouedraogo - Burkina Faso

Zimbabwe could have fielded an amazing team! An Africa Barbarians would be interesting too.

An African-origin Barbarians could actually be a great idea to spread the game there. Either play against some of the stronger African teams, (Namibia, Kenya?) or maybe select recently retired players if you want to play some of the weaker nations. It was amazing how the whole of Africa got behind the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Ghana when they progressed to the quarter-final stage, and I think possibly having some of the biggest names on the planet playing on the continent could do wonders for African rugby. Some good suggestions here, and I'm glad we've found some better centres than Erinle!

There used to be those teams, The Lions used to play East Africa as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Africa_rugby_union_team

wales606 wrote:Pocock (Zimbabwae) and Dusatoir (Ivory Coast) makes or a pretty deadly backrow.

Isn't Hartley from Zimbabwae too? Or somewhere in Africa?

Hartley was born in New Zealand, I believe.

Added all current players to the original post, but keep them coming, current or not. An interesting point would be whether these players would have been as good if they'd played for these minnow nations (they almost certainly wouldn't have been as renowned).

AlynDavies wrote:

robbo277 wrote:

CurlyOsp wrote:Was going to post the exact same article yesterday haha!

John Barclay - Hong kong
Zee Ngwenya - Zimbabwe
Tonderai Chavhanga - Zimbabwe
Fulgence Ouedraogo - Burkina Faso

Zimbabwe could have fielded an amazing team! An Africa Barbarians would be interesting too.

An African-origin Barbarians could actually be a great idea to spread the game there. Either play against some of the stronger African teams, (Namibia, Kenya?) or maybe select recently retired players if you want to play some of the weaker nations. It was amazing how the whole of Africa got behind the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Ghana when they progressed to the quarter-final stage, and I think possibly having some of the biggest names on the planet playing on the continent could do wonders for African rugby. Some good suggestions here, and I'm glad we've found some better centres than Erinle!

There used to be those teams, The Lions used to play East Africa as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Africa_rugby_union_team

Now you mention it I have heard of East Africa rugby team, but I never looked into it or took much note. An African-Origin Barbarians side taking on East Africa, Namibia and a standard Barbarians side on African soil in a three-match mini-tour could work well.