It’s just over a year since Eddie Jones handed England debuts to three Wales-qualified players in Harry Randall, Lewis Ludlow and Joe Heyes.
The trio join a list of players who have taken a similar route over the years — some of them considerable talents, others less so.
We’ve run through some of the names involved, including Randall.
Stuart Barnes (England)
While sitting in the press box scribbling words in his capacity as a journalist, Stuart Barnes has been an easy target over the years for well-refreshed supporters at the Principality Stadium, particularly after Wales defeats.
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But turn back the clock further and he could have pulled on the Welsh jersey at Test level himself.
His family moved to western side of the River Severn when he was just seven, and after heading for Bassaleg Comprehensive School four years later, the youngster with a preference for football discovered, not all together happily, that his new seat of learning didn't do the round-ball game.
“There was no soccer, so I didn’t want to go there,” he was to later write. “They told me I had to play rugby.”
It didn’t take long for him to acquire a liking for his new sport, captaining his school team at centre. Rumours quickly spread of his quality.
He captained Welsh Schools U15s from full-back at the age of 14 and made the leap to the U19s in one season, thereafter not missing a schools international for four years.
The 1981-82 Rugby Annual for Wales reported: “Whether at outside half or full-back, sprightly Stuart Barnes is an adventurous attacker and his shrewd leadership was an outstanding feature of the Welsh Schools (senior group) in 1980-81.”
By then the versatile and clever back had made his bow in Newport colours, appearing for them in the Snelling Sevens at the age of 17 and making his first-class debut against Watsonians on Boxing Day 1980, crowning his effort with two tries from fly-half.
Within four months, he’d been asked to join the Wales squad in preparation for a game against a President’s XV to mark the Welsh Rugby Union’s centenary.
By the time he left Basseleg a few months later, he was the joint record holder for Wales schoolboy caps, along with future senior international Allan Martin.
A significant future with Wales beckoned, with Barnes named in the full Welsh squad the following autumn and thus seen as a contender for a Five Nations place, with the selectors checking out options at full-back after the end of JPR Williams' Test career. Barnes was also viewed as a rival in the making to Gareth Davies for the No 10 jersey.
But there was a problem. While at Oxford University, he had become increasingly conscious of his “non-Welshness”, as he put it.
It led to a big decision, with the then youngster writing to Ray Williams, chairman of the Wales selectors, outlining why he no longer wanted to be considered for Welsh selection.
Plenty were taken aback, but Barnes had been true to himself. Years later he said: “I had great affection for Wales, but the fact is, I had no Welsh blood.”
He went on to play for Bristol and Bath and played 10 Tests for England and also toured with the Lions.
Rhys Ruddock (Ireland)
Another big schoolboy talent. Rhys Ruddock was actually born in Dublin.
But Mike Ruddock’s younger son was raised in Swansea and even today boasts a Welsh accent.
He played in the same West Wales U11s team as Liam Williams in 2002 and captained Wales U16s from the second row in 2007. He would later feature for Wales U18s before making the call to throw in his lot with Ireland.
With his power and ability to achieve go-forward, he has won 27 caps in a green jersey at senior level.
Billy Vunipola (England)
There is a famous picture of a nine-year-old Billy Vunipola sitting at a table with his East Wales U11 team-mates and positively towering over them. It’s as if a young adult has wandered over to join a group of primary school youngsters. Vunipola is literally head and shoulders above the rest. Indeed, he looks as if he might be head, shoulders, hips and knees above one lad in the image.
Billy’s dad Fe’ao is a former Tonga captain who played for Pontypridd and Pontypool. The family lived in Abersychan with Billy educated in Griffithstown, near Pontypool.
The strapping youngster’s aptitude for rugby soon became apparent, while he became such a friend of Taulupe Faletau, who was also brought up in Gwent, that he and his brother Mako viewed the future Wales and Lions No. 8 as family.
But paths diverged. While Faletau stayed on in Wales and committed to the Welsh cause, the Vunipolas moved over the border. Before he left, he told his old schools coach: "Don’t worry, I’m moving to Bristol but I’ll never play for England.”
He did wear the red rose shirt, though. Of course he did.
The immensely powerful ball-carrier has since worn the white jersey 64 times.
Mako Vunipola (England)
Much the same story as Billy, except Mako still speaks with a Welsh accent.
He attended Porth junior school and later West Monmouth School. On arriving at West Mon, he straightaway looked the part for rugby.
“He was built like a rhino,” his old head of PE Gareth Cooksey would later joke. “At 11 he had bigger arms than me.”
West Mon didn’t lose in 30-plus games between 2001 and 2004, not least because of Mako, who featured at No.8 rather than prop because there was no pushing in scrums so his size couldn’t be properly utilised at the sharp end.
But his talent was obvious. A family move to Thornbury in Gloucester took him and his brother out of Welsh rugby’s orbit, though.
Shannon Frizell
Eligible to play for Wales through his father, Andrew, who hails from Swansea, Shannon instead opted to figure for New Zealand. “He is a great athlete,” enthused Steve Hansen when handing Frizell his All Blacks debut.
Wales have genuine depth and quality in the back row.
But with his dynamic running and bone-rattling hits, he could have added something to the Welsh set-up.
Not now, though, with the All Blacks claiming him.
Harry Randall (England)
His skills were honed in west Wales, after his parents moved to the Amman Valley when he was just four years of age.
He cut his rugby teeth at Tycroes, the village where he lived, before joining Amman United and then Kidwelly as he moved around with friends. Moving on to Llandovery College, he became part of the Scarlets age-grade set-up and captained Wales U16s.
He could have played for Wales, then, having spent more than 10 years of cumulative residence in the country as a boy. He was quoted as saying: “I see myself as English, but Wales has a place in my heart.”
But England it was to be when push came to shove. He has won six caps since making his debut against the USA last year.
Josh Lewsey (England)
His Welsh-speaking mother Mair was raised in Cwmllynfell and dad David is also half-Welsh, meaning Josh could have featured for Wales.
But he opted for the land of his birth. In 1998 he made his debut for England and featured in their 2003 World Cup-winning side, going on to wear the white jersey 55 times.
Later, he became the Welsh Rugby Union’s head of rugby.
Stephen Varney (Italy)
The Welsh speaker from Rhoshill helped Ysgol y Preseli win the Welsh Schools U16s Cup and came through the junior ranks at Crymych.
Stephen Lorenzo Varney, to give him his full name, had a couple of outings for Scarlets West U16s but wasn’t selected for their pathway and took a break from the game. When he eventually got his rugby career back on track, he headed for Hartpury College and hasn’t looked back.
Quick and clever, with a fast service and an eye for a gap, he was snapped up by Gloucester and then by Italy, qualifying via his maternal grandparents hailing from the country.
“I coached him over a period of 12 years and you could always tell he had it in him to become a good player,” said Crymych age-grade coach Andrew Phillips.
“He packed in for a while to concentrate on his golf but he returned after a short time away. We had a cup final soon after and actually played another lad instead of Steve because the other boy had been playing so well at the time.
“But Steve was a class act. He never drank because he wanted to do as well as he could in rugby, but he was always one of the boys.”
Dewi Morris (England)
“If my parents had called me by my first name of Colin rather than my middle name of Dewi, I don’t think I would have had the level of horrendous abuse I received from people in Wales.”
So said Dewi Morris in an illuminating interview with WalesOnline in 2020. You can read it here.
He was born in Wales and brought up on a sheep farm on the outskirts of Crickhowell. Wales never appeared interested in him, though, so when England came calling after he settled there after college, qualifying via his mother, he took up the opportunity.
It didn’t lead to acclaim from Colwyn Bay to Cardiff. Before the Wales-England clash in 1993, matters came to a head.
“My parents received horrible letters and it was unfair on them. It hurt my family,” Morris told WalesOnline.
“The irony of it was I qualified for England through my mother, while Wales had Tony Copsey in their team. Copsey didn’t have any Welsh qualifications apart from coming to Cardiff as a student and staying on — he even had a 'made in England' tattoo on his backside.
“I actually sang the Welsh anthem and God Save the Queen when we lined up for the match.
“I’d only gone to England to study because I’d failed to get into Cyncoed with South Glamorgan Institute. It wasn’t through choice but necessity.”
Unlike Barnes, Morris was never seen as a Wales star of the future. But the likeable and self-deprecating former scrum-half actually started all three Tests for the Lions in 1993.
When he made his decision in 1988 to throw in his lot with England Rob Jones was in his pomp and Wales had other quality No. 9s as well.
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