FOR all the efforts to tidy up rugby's eligibility rules, nationality will always be a personal thing and never as clear-cut as some would like. There can be no one-size-fits-all approach.

To the acclaim of most, new World Rugby deputy chairman Agustin Pichot was swift in declaring his desire to change the three-year residency rule to five years.

"It is very important to keep the identity of our national teams. Having on your team players who have not lived (for long) in the country – it's not right," said the former Argentina scrum-half.

The notion of project players – Scotland's WP Nel, Ireland's CJ Stander, even Dragons lock Rynard Landman will be eligible for Wales in a year's time – doesn't sit well with many and it is an issue that needs to be addressed.

But even those with blood links to countries can cause controversy.

Leinster's success means that Worcester-bound Ben Te'o won't make his England bow against Wales this Sunday, sparing us plenty of gnashing of teeth.

The centre has an English mum but that won't stop the critics when he lines up against the Wallabies next month, seemingly a certainty in the absence of Manu Tuilagi.

The problem (for some at least) is that Te'o was born in Auckland, represented Samoa at rugby league but, having lived in Queensland from the age of 17 until his move to Dublin, was interested in playing for Australia in the 15-man code.

I'll state it again, his mum is English but this won't stop some whinging. We see that with the way that Gareth Anscombe is treated, his Welsh mum doesn't stop the frequency with which he is referred to as 'the New Zealand-born full-back'.

It could be argued that Te'o has a 'cleaner' link to England than Taulupe Faletau does to Wales but speaking to the number eight, sadly soon to officially be a former Dragon, reveals the folly of anybody who dares to doubt the Pontypool-raised forward's connection to Wales.

World Rugby's regulation 8 states that the "rationale/philosophy" is to ensure that players "have a genuine, close, credible and established national link with the country of the Union for which they have been selected".

It continues: "Such a national link is essential to maintain the unique characteristics and culture of elite international sporting competition between Unions."

Yet it's not a simple issue as such links are so personal.

A migrant who comes to the UK and is able to build a life here, gaining opportunities that they didn't think were possible, can feel more of an affinity to the place than someone who has grown up in (insert unglamorous town here) and spent their youth riding a Raleigh Grifter, swapping Panini stickers, pushing Push Pops and playing 'kerby' in the street.

I am eligible to play for four countries: England (born and raised in Leicester), Scotland (mother from the Highlands), Ireland (grandparents from the west) and Wales (residency).

Maybe it is because of my slightly 'mongrel' make-up but I am just not very patriotic.

I suppose I count myself to be English but I feel more of a connection to my home city and have only ever attended an international sporting event through this line of work.

The chances of me getting a St George's Cross tattoo are slimmer than a Foxes Premier League-Champions League double next season (for the record this isn't me saying I'll get one if the 'impossible' happens again) while the national anthem that will be played by the hosts at Twickenham on Sunday leaves me cold.

I feel some connection to Scotland but, despite my surname, very little to Ireland perhaps due to the frequency of folk who loudly declare their own distant Irish links.

I know there are plenty of people like me and I also expect that if I had the talent of someone like Te'o, Jared Payne or even Carl Meyer, the South African who had a marvellous first professional season at Rodney Parade, financial gain would come into any decision I made.

Hypothetically, using my lineage, would I forego an England cap if Scotland came calling with a better financial package? Probably. I know that statement will disgust some.

Conversely there are those who would never entertain the approach of another nation at the expense of winning a solitary cap to the one that they hold dear.

But the reality is that some of the players wearing your national jersey – be it red, white, green, blue, gold, black – just won't care as much about your country as you, and that isn't limited to those who have qualified through residency.

One man's proud patriotic tattoo on their calf can look like a skanky bulldog, dragon or kangaroo to another.

Test rugby is the pinnacle of the sport and factors other than pure patriotism – be they financial or just the desire to pit oneself against the best at a World Cup – will always come into play. Tightening up residency rules won't completely quash controversy.