It’s rugby’s reverse version of Brexit, with double figures of England players having rushed to the Eurozone, in a dash for French clubs’ cash, making them unavailable to Steve Borthwick’s team.
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Read MoreThe policy has ruled out a long list of England internationals currently in the French league: the forwards Courtney Lawes (Brive), Jack Willis (Toulouse), Dave Ribbans, Kyle Sinckler, Lewis Ludlam (all at Toulon), Billy Vunipola (Montpellier), Mako Vunipola (Vannes), Sam Simmonds (Montpellier), Will Collier (Castres), and backs Owen Farrell (Racing 92), Manu Tuilagi (Bayonne), Joe Marchant (Stade Francais), Jack Nowell (La Rochelle), Henry Arundell (Racing 92) and Dan Robson (Pau). Plus the uncapped Alex Moon (Bayonne), Joe Simmonds (Pau) and Zack Henry (Stade Francais).
In the cases of the players above, it has conspicuously failed to work.
It has removed, in a short time span of a couple of years, more than 660 caps – exactly the factor the England head coach Borthwick has recently been complaining of missing.
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Read MoreAn England international playing for a French club used to be an oddity: outliers like Nigel Horton at Toulouse and Maurice Colclough at Angouleme in the 1970s, Rob Andrew at Toulouse in the 80s, and Dan Luger from the 2003 World Cup winners joining Perpignan.
The current England captain Maro Itoje was asked on Thursday if he agreed with the RFU’s stance. “I’m not going to comment on the policy at this point, but we want all the best players to be available for selection for England,” said Itoje. “We want all the guys who are doing well playing for England, or at least being available for selection.
Maro Itoje has seen teammates like Owen Farrell swap English clubs for French (Photo: Getty)The key question is how many of these players would be playing for England if they hadn’t left?
A 35-year-old prop like Mako Vunipola might have struggled to keep turning in 20-plus top-class matches a season for club and country, although Cian Healy at 37 is doing it for Leinster and Ireland.
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Read MoreLawes, Tuilagi and Farrell had plenty of miles on the clock, but Ribbans, at 29, was hitting his peak as a hard and mobile second row and line-out jumper, when he joined Toulon from Northampton.
His absence and that of the 31-year-old Nowell are a factor when there are moans about the lack of alternatives to the England centres Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence.
The 22-year-old Arundell was having his struggles adjusting to a kick-dominated England in 2023 but he could have been maturing among fellow English players at an English club instead of sharing in Racing 92’s soap-opera woes, with coach Stuart Lancaster departing last week.
Henry Arundell will soon be heading back to England and join Bath (Photo: Getty)Even if only three or four of them were added to the England team, it could have been enough to reverse some of the close-run defeats everyone has been talking about.
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Read MoreWhat would it have taken to keep them? Maybe some of the good money that the RFU’s chief executive Bill Sweeney and fellow directors have been paid while presiding over a losing England team.
Itoje, who has spent all his career at Saracens, was wanted by Racing 92 in the 2020-21 season his club spent in the Championship, but the Premiership refused to ratify an exception to the RFU policy. More recently, he rejected other offers from France.
“In my heart of hearts I would have been looking at England playing, from across the Channel, and I wouldn’t have been at peace with the decision. There are a whole load of different factors one can use to determine whether you stay here or go there but, for me, I felt if I went it would have been a bit premature if I went at that time.”
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Read MoreOn Thursday, Arundell announced his return to England to join Bath next season.
A juicy carrot to be waved is playing for England on the grand stage of the World Cup in Australia in two-and-a-half years’ time, and it might lure back others who have banked their Euros, enjoyed the French lifestyle and enhanced their rugby, but were never going to stay away forever.
But it won’t be in time for this weekend, so the likes of Itoje who stayed put must carry the flag.
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