Should the reported French interest in Bundee Aki's services lead to a move overseas for the Connacht man, would it be in Irish Rugby's best interests to revisit their self-imposed rules on selection?
As things stand, no player who is contracted to a club beyond Munster, Ulster, Leinster or Connacht can be considered available for international selection in Ireland.
A rule that was briefly waived during Johnny Sexton's spell with Racing 92 in France, the unflinching manner in which Simon Zebo's Munster departure signalled the end of his Ireland career has firmly demonstrated that there is no real wiggle-room to speak of any longer.
On Thursday's OTB AM, reports surrounding foreign interest in Bundee Aki's services sparked the question as to whether or not it is a policy the Irish Rugby Football Union ought to persevere with.
"He may go or he may stay," suggested Ruaidhri O'Connor. "I feel like he's done his bit with Ireland and it might be time to get the pay-load.
"I particularly don't know if you'd change the [selection] rules for a player who is not from Ireland, personally. Especially when you're not picking Zebo.
"Maybe Andy Farrell comes in and changes that? That is a conversation Andy Farrell will need to have."
If Bundee Aki goes and plays for one of the French teams and gets paid €500,000, they're literally paying his wages and we get to have him for free
Although the prospect of a France-based Bundee Aki remaining open to Farrell's consideration in the current set-up is indeed remote, whether or not it is in Ireland's best interests to stick with this self-imposed limitation requires greater consideration.
"Are we not cutting our nose off to spite our face," argued host Ger Gilroy. "If Bundee Aki goes and plays for one of the French teams and gets paid €500,000, they're literally paying his wages and we get to have him for free.
"[The IRFU] will have saved €500,000 so they can go and replace him [for Connacht]."
In theory, the prospect of one or two players operating in such circumstances may not prove harmful to Irish rugby as a whole. Yet, with the earning potential elsewhere being what it is, what if a whole host of Ireland's players end up playing overseas?
"The Irish players didn't exactly tear up many trees at the World Cup," conceded O'Connor, "so I don't know if the interest is there.
"[But] in this first two years of the World Cup cycle, why not do what New Zealand are doing? Go to Japan and make your money, and the door is open for you to come back."
"The conversation should be had about allowing everyone to go off for a few years," stated Gilroy. "We've tried it with everybody having every minute and training session managed and it didn't work.
"Let's try something different."
You can watch back this discussion in full here.
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