He also dislikes the mechanism under which players who have not played for their original country for three years can instantly become eligible for a second nation on ancestral grounds, with Scotland’s former Wallaby forward Jack Dempsey among the beneficiaries.
Maro Itoje hoisting the Calcutta Cup might normally have secured the crown but did you see that magnificent picture of Bundee Aki in Cardiff, complete with heroically battered nose and blood-stained Ireland shirt?
Most pertinent of all, perhaps, is his contention that qualification by residency based purely on signing for a professional club in, say, Britain, Ireland, France or Japan unfairly tilts rugby’s global playing field.
While the required Test residency period is now five years rather than three, Abrahams says certain nations are simply scouting southern hemisphere talent at a younger age.
With Aki, James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park, all originally from New Zealand, helping Ireland to move towards what could be a third successive Six Nations title, it is easy to understand a degree of jealousy in certain quarters.
