Remember Grannygate? With the advent of professionalism the Welsh rugby union flooded their national team with overseas mercenaries in order to remain competitive with the elite. Ireland and Scotland employed a similar policy.
Some impressive newspaper reporting revealed Kiwi imports Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson were not actually descended from Welsh-born grandparents. The WRU received a heavy fine and the illegal international careers were suspended.
Howarth, now the Pacific Islands assistant coach, won four caps for the All Blacks in 1994 before switching to rugby league in Australia only to return to union with Sale. He eventually settled in Newport, where he accumulated over 1,000 points, and acquired 19 caps for his adopted country between 1998 to 2000.
Ironically, the exposure of Howarth proved beneficial to the Pacific Islanders as new IRB regulations meant players could no longer switch allegiance to the Wallabies or All Blacks once capped by Fiji, Tonga or Samoa.
Howarth was gifted a backline of supreme pace and intuition for this compressed tour of the Celtic nations. Capitulation is expected at Lansdowne Road on Saturday but so are a couple of moments of sheer brilliance.
"Our main tour goal has not yet been achieved," said Howarth. "Obviously our aim was to win one. It's just the starts that have let us down. We shipped 31 points against Wales and then came back and had an outstanding second half. Again, against Scotland, you wonder how you can ship 62 points in two first halfs and 10 points in two second halfs.
"It would have been great to have them for an extra week, as they all come from different teams with so many different ways of playing. You are trying to mould it in such a short space of time. When the heat comes on they revert back to what they know and you can't blame them for that. We haven't been together that long."
Only the match-day squad remained in the Burlington Hotel this week. The paymasters in England, France and Japan want their investments back, while others just missed their families. The latter reason hardly constitutes a legitimate excuse for a professional sportsman but as Howarth explains: "Family is a huge thing for people from the Pacific Islands. It's massive. Bigger than I actually believed it was. They have close knit families and when they are away from their families for two or three weeks it plays on their minds a lot. And we got to respect that because we would rather have fellas who are 100 per cent here as opposed to 60 per cent with us and 40 per cent pining."
Okay, but what of clubs hindering their players from joining international squads? Howarth, not one to mince his words, holds strong opinions on this topic. "I don't understand the actions of the clubs. They are saying the club is worth more than playing for their country. That just doesn't cut it with me.
"The role model in Europe is Ireland with centrally contracted players. The All Blacks have this system in place also. I guess it is no coincidence that the All Blacks and Irish are two of the top three sides in the world. I find it ridiculous that pressure is put on these guys not to come and play international rugby."
Besides the expected big, maybe even late, hits and some moments of sevens-style beauty what more can be expected from the tourists? "I've been bloody impressed with Ireland. I think the system they have in place is spot on. Then there is the class of player. Breaking them down is going to be a monumental task, particularly as we are still learning.
"We wanted to show the subtle side of our game and we have scored some great tries. We just have to hold onto the ball and cut out the mistakes like the stupid flicks behind the back and the like. With the form Ireland are in we will be severely punished otherwise."
