England rugby’s French talent drain is unprecedented

Opinion

Rugby Union Correspondent

More English players than ever are following the money to France, which rules them out of national selection

September 22, 2023 6:00 am

Toulon-bound second row David Ribbans was the latest example of an England World Cup player appearing slightly awkward when asked about playing for a French club in the forthcoming season.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership’s policy since 2011 has broadly been to ban such players from representing England, so anyone who says “I am going anyway” is bound to be asked about their decision.

Ribbans, who will start for England against Chile on Saturday, said on Wednesday: “It’s been an amazing honour and privilege to be here [at the World Cup]. To come out of a small town, Somerset in South Africa, to be playing for England has been amazing.

“When I signed for Toulon the rules were in place, and the rules will remain in place. So it was a decision I had to make. Unfortunately, yeah, this will be the end of the road for now.”

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Unless the rule changes, of course? “That’s up to the RFU,” said Ribbans.

There is a new Professional Game Partnership being agreed by the RFU, Premiership clubs and players’ association, but from i’s enquiries on Thursday, it seems certain the overseas ban will be maintained.

Meanwhile, three World Cup players in Jack Willis, Joe Marchant and Ribbans, plus Sam Simmonds, Jack Nowell, Harry Williams, Dan Robson, Kieran Brookes and Brad Shields have left or are about to leave English clubs, and are out of the national team’s reach.

Then you pick up Midi Olympique, the French rugby newspaper, and read of four more World Cup players – Elliot Daly, Kyle Sinckler, Lewis Ludlam and Will Stuart – being linked with the Top 14.

A grey area surrounds Henry Arundell, who is joining Racing 92 in Paris. Players from the three clubs who entered administration last season – Wasps, Worcester and Arundell’s former team London Irish – were exempt for 12 months to play elsewhere, and Irish’s administration in the spring was a few months after the other two.

Another person in an awkward position on this could be Steve Borthwick. Earlier this year, the England head coach indicated he would like the ban lifted – which appears obvious as he would want to select from all the best players. However, wouldn’t Borthwick as a well-paid RFU employee be under pressure to support the “company” line?

In a nutshell, the policy is designed to protect the Premiership as a product, and the England team in the narrower terms of players always being available for training (their release for match weeks is guaranteed by World Rugby regulations).

The counterargument is that a player should be free to earn as much as possible in a short career, and playing abroad adds to their sporting and life experience.

South Africa have players dotted round the world and still produce top performances.

Willis is a fascinating case. The flanker only left Wasps because they went under, but he has just won the French league with Toulouse, alongside Antoine Dupont and company, he doesn’t mind being called a “rosbif” by his club-mates, and when it came to extending his original short-term deal, he valued the certainty of a contract to 2026.

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If for any reason that changed, Willis could yet tour with England next summer and play for an English club in 2024-25, and he would only have missed one Six Nations.

Wasps’ demise also freed Joe Launchbury for a stint in Japan, but others keen to head east know Japanese clubs tend to do their business in April – the wrong time for the English.

While a player agent spoken to by i doubts whether a mass drain is on the cards, the current drift is on an unprecedented scale – different to when loopholes were found for Jonny Wilkinson, Andy Goode and James Haskell in the early stage of the policy.

What has changed in England is the financial state of the Union and the clubs.

Thirty RFU Council members are demanding change in their executive board and predicting tens of millions of pounds of losses at Twickenham in the next few years, while several of the 10 remaining Premiership clubs are struggling to spend to the new salary cap of £6.4million.

So they might quietly welcome getting a high earner or two off the books, but many a supporter, sponsor and broadcaster will shout their disagreement. There is a danger of a vicious circle becoming a downward spiral for the domestic game.