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Argentine Muller considering allegiance switch ahead of RWC
By Kim Ekin
Argentine winger Axel Muller is considering swapping the blue and white of Los Pumas for the red, white and blue of the United States ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Muller, who plays for Brive in the Top 14, represented Argentina in the 2016 Olympics but is eager to fulfill a dream of playing at a Rugby World Cup, a goal he is unlikely to attain with Los Pumas.
Muller is hoping to use World Rugby's new international eligibility laws that were revealed in November and are now being applied.
From January 1st this year an international player is permitted to transfer from one union to another subject to being able to demonstrate a close and credible link to that union via birthright.
A three-step criteria will be applied for a player to change. Said player must stand down from international rugby for 36 months, the player must either be born in the country to which they wish to transfer or have a parent or grandparent born in that country, and a player may only change union once.
Each switch will be subject to approval by the World Rugby regulations committee to preserve the integrity.
Muller, who grew up in Arizona and played American football there before returning to Argentina, believes that he will be eligible to make the move.
“A dream I’ve had since I was small and that I’ve known rugby has been to play a World Cup,” Muller told AFP. “Having lived 10 years there, I feel as much Argentine as I do American.
“I have dual-nationality. If the rule is there I have the right to use it to play for the United States."
After representing Argentina's Sevens side, Muller sought to continue a XVs career in France, a decision he claims the UAR were not in favour of.
“I made the decision in my career to prioritise my future,” Muller said. “The federation didn’t like that I left. Since then, even if I’ve been picked by the coach, the federation haven’t been happy."
If his switch is approved, Muller will still of course have to win selection for the tournament.
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I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.
I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.
We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.
I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.
Go to commentsGreat but players do play like Oz too BS!!
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