RANKED: Who are the best 5 uncapped rugby players in the world?

However, here is a look at 5 of the best active players who never got capped by their national teams.

Without further ado…

Whilst playing in France, Fearns is not available to England, but the flanker has said he would like to play for Les Bleus, who he qualifies for at the end of the season. It remains to be seen whether Laporte’s stance on only French citizens representing the country holds up when a player of Fearns’ ability becomes available.

His performances have been standout in a very impressive Glasgow side and there is no doubt that Gregor Townsend will be interested in what he has to offer. He doesn’t qualify for Scotland through his ancestry, so if he is to win a cap, it appears he will have to wait until 2020 for the opportunity.

This Kiwi was one of the form wings in New Zealand before he made the move to Dublin earlier this month. Having broken through into Super Rugby during the days of Julian Savea’s dominance and the versatile pairing of Ben Smith and Israel Dagg, opportunities were limited for Lowe in terms of the silver fern.

Given that “raka” means rugby in Fijian, it was perhaps a foregone conclusion that this dynamic wing would be a success. He qualifies for France on residency grounds next month and has been tearing up trees in the Top 14 for Clermont. Bernard Laporte, however, has said that only French citizens will be considered for the national team and even given that Raka is married to a French woman, the earliest he can apply for citizenship is November 2018.

Gopperth has been a model professional in Europe for over eight years now but a sole cap for the Junior All Blacks has prevented him from featuring for England, for whom he would have qualified in 2012, had he felt the desire to.

Unfortunately for Gopperth, he followed hot on the heels of Dan Carter in New Zealand and that was an unenviable shadow for anyone to live in. Gopperth wasn’t the only Kiwi to have had to play second fiddle to one of the greatest players to ever grace the game and just like Nick Evans, that shouldn’t detract from his ability as a player.