Overseas players should be available for England – RPA

Players based at overseas clubs should be available for England selection under a temporary lifting of the current restriction enforced by the Rugby Football Union, according to the Rugby Players’ Association.

RPA general secretary Christian Day insists that England stars are compelled to look abroad due to the £5millon salary cap observed by Gallagher Premiership teams.

Red Rose internationals Joe Marchant, Sam Simmonds, Luke Cowan-Dickie and David Ribbans will head to the Top 14 next season, while Jack Willis is already playing for Toulouse following Wasps’ financial collapse.

Anthony Watson, meanwhile, is facing an uncertain future when his contract expires at Leicester in July with his desire to stay on these shores offset by the greater riches available in France.

England players are becoming increasingly less appealing to Premiership clubs because as well as commanding higher salaries, they can also be lost to international duty for lengthy chunks of the season.

The RFU says that players based outside the English top flight can only be picked in exceptional circumstances – a position supported by Premiership Rugby – but Day believes that rule should be paused until the salary cap rises to £6.4million in 2024-25.

“If the cap continues to be suppressed then we will continue to say the players can’t get fair value in this country,” Day said.

“For people like Jack Willis – and there are one or two others – who can’t get fair value in this country at the moment primarily because the cap’s suppressed, we think they should be able to go and be selected. We think that should exist next year as well.”

Amid consideration of joint contracts being introduced for international stars, Day said: “There are other things that also play into it – the availability of England players is becoming a big issue.

“If players are unavailable for 10 games a year, it diminishes their own value with their club.

“As much as they’re one of the best players, their club instead sees value in other players and we need to fix that.

“Clubs should be fighting for England players, not saying they get better value out of someone else.”

Discussions are ongoing over the next Professional Game Agreement (PGA), which will govern the landscape of English rugby when it comes into effect in July 2024.

“The challenge for us as administrators is that pre-Covid the English environment was probably one of, if not the best, environments in the world,” Day said.

“We need to get it back there and at the moment we need to be honest and say that at the moment it isn’t.

“That’s why the PGA is so crucial because it gives us real movement to make it the best, if not close to the best, environment in the world.

“And it should be the best. England have the most resources and most players. That’s the challenges for us as administrators – us, PRL and the RFU.”