LIST | Five rugby players who peaked far too early

Despite becoming an England international aged 19 and being a World Cup finalist in 2007, Tait’s test career came to a conclusion in 2010 after 34 caps. Still only 24 at the time, another injury ruled him out of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He has since become a mainstay of the Leicester Tigers backline but has never really come close to earning an England recall.

The man who tackled Tait. Despite two Six Nations winner’s medals, Henson falls firmly into the category of those that failed to fulfill their potential. But despite his love for hobnobbing with C-list celebrities, appearing on reality TV shows and bottled tan, all of which seemed to take precedence over his rugby, Henson actually didn’t have that bad a career. Now struggling for gametime at the Dragons, it could have been so much better!

Sir Clive Woodward was appointed England coach in 1997 and picked the 20-year-old prop on potential for his first match in charge against Australia. However, Long played poorly and only won one further cap for his country.

The scrum-half was named in the Wales squad to tour New Zealand in summer 2010, making his debut against New Zealand in Dunedin as a second-half replacement aged 20. He went onto win just 11 caps, all in the next year, before retiring aged 28 following a serious knee ligament injury. He's since opened the Unit 9 gym in Neath

He won 23 caps for England between 2001 and 2008, and such was his early reputation that he featured for England, aged 20, before his club debut with Bath. The strange thing about Barkley is that it is hard to say where it went wrong. He is not blessed with great pace, but kicked well from the tee and out of hand, is a fine distributor and hardly a defensive weakness. He remains one of the biggest mysteries of English rugby from the 2000s.