French connections: the forces driving English rugby's Top 14 exodus

29/03/2024 15:58

England internationals are flocking to France – and it's a win-win situation for the players and the clubs

Another week, another England international confirming a move to the Top 14. Kyle Sinckler will join Lewis Ludlam in swapping the Premiership for Toulon, taking the number of players from England's World Cup squad who will be turning out in France next season to nine. Should Billy Vunipola complete a move to Montpellier it will be double figures and if brother Mako joins him then France's top two divisions will be just a scrum-half shy of a full XV who represented England at either the 2019 or the 2023 World Cup. By anyone's standards it is an unprecedented direction of travel.

It is not as if this raft of players are trailblazers – Rob Andrew's stint at Toulouse in the early 90s shows that Englishmen have been making the move across the Channel since even before the advent of professionalism – but it is the sheer numbers as well as their profile. The Rugby Football Union's decision to prevent anyone playing outside England pulling on the red rose jersey in 2012 was made to ensure that on the back of Jonny Wilkinson's success story at Toulon there was not a flood of players who followed but it seems powerless to stop the nouvelle vague.