Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje have been placed at the top of the wishlist of Japan’s Top League, according to a report from The Telegraph.
The league, which has the ambition to become the ‘Premier League of rugby’, is hopeful of massively expanding its profile following the successful 2019 World Cup.
The competition is already home to some of rugby’s biggest stars, including All Black trio Kieran Read, Beauden Barrett and Brodie Retallick – as well as Wallabies captain Michael Hooper.
England internationals George Kruis, Alex Goode and Freddie Burns have also made the move to the fast expanding league.
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The Top League chairman Osamu Ota said: “They are current England international players for England which is a great thing for us. In addition to them, if we can have Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell in the future in our league that would be a great thing for us. We also have Greig Laidlaw.
“Those European players are very popular in Japan. I want to make our league an attractive to league so that every player, wherever they are, will give consideration to coming here at some point in their career.”
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LIST: 5 rugby legends’ sons who want to play for other countries
Jason Robinson & Lewis Tierney (England and Scotland)
Playing as a wing or fullback, Robinson won 51 rugby union international caps for England and is the first black man to captain the England team. In 2012, his eldest son Lewis Tierney, who plays as a full back, signed a two-year deal with Wigan Warriors at age 18, but has won seven caps for Scotland to date.
