Rugby: England extends overseas player ban

Stuart Lancaster, head coach of the current English team. Photo / Getty

The English Rugby Union is to prevent any potential exodus of its leading players after the World Cup by extending its policy of not selecting any overseas-based players for England for the next two Cups.

Any England-based player considering a move overseas next season is to be left in no doubt that it will bring a premature end to their England career.

High-profile players such as Manu Tuilagi and Danny Cipriani have already attracted interest from big-spending French clubs this year, while David Strettle withdrew from England's World Cup training squad to join Clermont Auvergne in June.

The RFU and Premiership Rugby are in advanced negotiations for a new long-term agreement over the release of England players and funding and it's understood extending the selection policy will form a central plank of the new deal, covering the next two Cups.

The RFU's strict policy, brought in after the last Cup, has ensured Stuart Lancaster's squad has players solely based in the England Premiership for the first time since 1999. That follows Lancaster's decision not to invoke the "exceptional circumstances" clause in the policy, despite mounting pressure to include French-based players Steffon Armitage after another outstanding season for Champions' Cup winners Toulon, and Clermont fullback Nick Abendanon who was named European player of the year.

It was revealed in May that the Professional Game Board - representatives from the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, the Championship and Rugby Players' Association - concluded the exceptional circumstance clause was only to cover injuries, not to strengthen a team for a home World Cup.

Sir Clive Woodward, England's 2003 World Cup-winning coach, called for the RFU to scrap its overseas selection policy. England's tough stance contrasts with Australia, which relaxed policy to include any player based overseas with more than 60 caps for the Wallabies.

That let Wallabies coach Michael Cheika include French-based players Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell in his Cup squad, while South Africa also selected players based overseas.

However, Mark McCafferty, the Premiership Rugby's chief executive, said yesterday it was critical to ensure the long-term strength of English rugby.

Everyone and their dog has had their say about it and that no doubt will continue, and ultimately we'll have to prove it does produce those benefits and we don't lose anything at the top. It provides the strength in depth, which we're all looking for in England, but we will have to keep commercially competitive on all fronts to make sure players want to stay here as well. The professional players are becoming more valuable, we're developing more and better of them and we have to make sure as many as possible want to stay and play top-level rugby in England. Then the whole system works.

Mark McCafferty, Premiership Rugby chief executive