England ace Maro Itoje believes the pull of playing for England is extremely important amid growing rumours of a LIV-style breakaway league.
Reports across the English media suggest a US-backed league could tempt players around the world to turn their back on their current club sides for the chance to enter a new 14-round season, with fixtures held in cities across the globe – similar to the LIV Golf tournament.
Commenting on the possibility of the rumoured league, Itoje said he only found out about it when the news broke last week but feels playing for England is the 'Mecca' of rugby.
"The first time I heard of this (the breakaway league) was when it broke," he said. "So we'll wait and see."
He added: "Playing for England is the Mecca. I don't know any of the details, but wearing this rose is very important to me and my teammates."
What is the breakaway league?
The proposed breakaway league would consist of eight new franchises playing a 14-round season, with each game set to take place in a different city across the world.
Per reports, up to 40 contracts are on the table to join this league, with players set to earn £1 million a year if they agree to the deals. Reports have already suggested the likes of Antoine Dupont and Finn Russell are targets to join this new league, but the backers are also looking to target world-class talent to draw interest, and importantly fans, to the new competition should it take place.
But, it would need to be sanctioned by World Rugby in order for players to join one of the eight franchises and still represent their country at Test level too. Should it receive this, it would then be up to the different Unions' selection policies if players can then play for their countries.
As it stands, England only select players who currently play in the Premiership, France also have a similar policy with players in the Top 14 as does Ireland with the URC and New Zealand with Super Rugby – although that's largely due to centralised contracts.
Wales also have the 25-cap rule, but a large number of their squad currently play their club rugby in both France and England, and Australia also have limits on selecting overseas-based players.
South Africa, on the other hand, have no policy forcing head coach Rassie Erasmus to select players playing in the URC, with the likes of Cheslin Kolbe, Jasper Wiese, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Pieter-Steph du Toit all based in Japan.
