English players have an incredibly mixed record overseas. The likes of Cohen, Wilkinson and the Armitage brothers nevertheless all earned rave reviews outside of Britain.
However, less and less English players are moving abroad in recent times since the policy to exclude them from international call-ups was formalised by the Rugby Football Union in 2010 and came into effect after the 2011 World Cup.
There are two main reasons for it:
- to protect the quality of the English league by ensuring the best English players play in it
- to give the RFU more control and better access to current England or potential England players.
On the whole, the policy has achieved its aim, with the vast majority of English players having opted for international honours over better wages in places like France.
However, a number of quality players have still left these shores…
Here are the 5 best English players currently playing abroad.