ONE thing I never expected to be doing in my role as the Citizen's sports editor was interviewing the Russian international rugby league team.

But I had the great pleasure of meeting stars Andrei Olari and Ian Rubin at their base in Lancaster last week.

Given the hype in the national media about the allegedly dubious nationality of some of the rugby league world cup teams, it was encouraging to hear plenty of Russian accents.

Sure, the team has drafted in a few talented Aussies (with a genuine Russian background) but this team is far more vodka in Red Square than barbies on the beach.

OK, the Lebanon team doesn't contain a single Lebanese player, but at least they got into the spirit of things by having three of their players catch hypothermia during their defeat against New Zealand on Sunday.

And it seems ironic that, while rugby league is suffering such harsh criticism, other sports are also coming into the spotlight.

Take Tony Cascarino. For years dubbed 'that Irish donkey' by fans of Celtic, Aston Villa and good football the world over, the Republic of Ireland 'great' has now revealed that he played most of his 80 odd internationals despite revealing now that he wasn't really, er, eligible to do so.

But just think, he was a favourite of Graham Taylor's so perhaps it's as well that he could never play for England.

And the other code of rugby isn't above criticism. Wales will pick any antipodean who has even a passing interest in sheep (that rules the entire population of New Zealand in) while Japan's team is full of 6ft 7in former All Blacks who work for banks in Tokyo.

Eligibility will always provoke heated debate, and it is really up to individual sports to decide who is allowed to play for which country.

That way maybe those newspaper sports columnists hired to write about rugby league will stop being so negative and start promoting what could be one of the most enthralling sporting events of the year.