The Gallagher Premiership’s Top 5 GREATEST foreign imports

How immeasurably more boring would our sporting lives would have been.

So, in the past 20 years, who have been the best 15 overseas signings to grace this country’s pitches? RUCK gives it a go:

Rejecting the opportunity to be Dan Carter's understudy, Evans made the brave move to the Premiership with Harlequins after the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Nine years on he hung up his boots as one of the clubs greatest ever players, scoring 2,249 points in 208 matches. A standout moment was probably his 20-point haul at Twickenham as Harlequins won their first ever Premiership title against Leicester in 2012.

The Irishman, who made his Tigers debut in 1997, played in seven Premiership-winning teams and won two Heineken Cup finals. The fullback was one of the most outstanding players in the history of Premiership rugby. He won 72 caps for Ireland, two Test caps for the Lions and has scored 691 points, including 93 tries, in Leicester colours.

Premiership dominance. The Argentine, despite being an established international, signed his first-ever professional contract with Tigers, but few would have imagined he'd be a stalwart at the club for over a decade, making 246 appearances and winning four Premiership titles.

The winger qualifies for this select group via his Samoan heritage. He also played more Tests for Samoa than he did for New Zealand but, above all else, taught everyone at Wigan and Newcastle Falcons what class looked like regardless of the code he was playing. He's still talked about two decades on from Newcastle’s title-winning heyday.

The hooker deserves to be acclaimed as the greatest import in the history of the Premiership. He is that good. Joining the club in 2009, the South African helped to redefine the role of the hooker with his pragmatic style of play, making over 200 appearances for the club, winning a heap of trophies.