If everyone is heading to French club rugby, including the England centurion Courtney Lawes, it makes Courtney Lawes right: rival unions need to rise above their envy and pick their Test teams on the basis of merit rather than geography.
Twickenham’s near-blanket rejection of players who dare cross the water in pursuit of the euro may ease Steve Borthwick’s selection process – the fewer realistic contenders for each position, the fewer difficult decisions the coach must make – but it is not hard to foresee a situation in which he would happily sacrifice a limb in exchange for the services o...