The mercurial fly-half is flourishing in perfect conditions at La Rochelle yet England’s refusal to select players moving abroad shows no sign of easing
Leone Nakarawa has already made a formidable case to break the sequence judging by his performance against Leicester but it is a feather in the cap that the last five European players of the year are English. It will please the Rugby Football Union that among them are Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje – acclaimed for Saracens’ success in the last two seasons – but go back a little further and there is cause for embarrassment at Twickenham.
The three previous winners were Jonny Wilkinson, Steffon Armitage and Nick Abendanon – the last for his exploits for Clermont, the former two for Toulon. In other words for 36 months the best player in Europe was not able to play for England, “exceptional circumstances” aside, even if Wilkinson had retired from international rugby by then.
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