Since the dawn of professionalism, England has been accused by many of relying heavily on foreign-born talent to bolster its ranks at the highest level of the sport.
Yet, when we look at England’s current crop of players, very few were born and/or bred outside of the country.
We have to take away the Vunipola brothers – Mako and Billy – who were born in Australasia and raised in Wales when following their rugby playing Tongan father Fe’ao around the world.
The ‘homegrown’ team would, therefore, look like this:
1) Joe Marler
2) Jamie George
3) Dan Cole
4) Maro Itoje
5) George Kruis
6) Chris Robshaw
7) James Haskell
8) Sam Simmonds
9) Ben Youngs
10) George Ford
11) Jack Nowell
12) Owen Farrell
13) Jonathan Joseph
14) Anthony Watson
15) Mike Brown
Overall verdict
What do these numbers therefore tell us? Well, England is now leaning more and more on its academies rather than resorting to the residency rules to fill in gaps. Over 82 per cent of players were born in the country or qualified through parentage.
So, the next time someone tries to tell you the England team is made up of foreign-born players, you know they’re living in a post-truth world.