How many more like Francis could be lost to England?

player, Piers Francis, having been a Saracens academy reject, has emerged as an England international, thanks to a sojourn in NZ during which he represented Auckland Blues.

How many more talented players are there in Kent and other counties whose progress is stunted by the RFU’s total fixation with 12 Premiership clubs?

To see the negative effects of that fixation, consider how England fielded a player in the second row against South Africa last weekend – Saracens’ Nick Isiekwe – who is not even among the top two locks at his club. Occasional club games are not sufficient preparation for Test rugby.

Until the RFU create a domestic structure in which the successors to Jamie Salmon and company can progress without being obliged to play for a tiny selfinterested club elite, England will continue to under-achieve. JEFF GAGE via email IN last week’s My Life in

Rugby column, Jamie Salmon writes how, in the early 1980s, he went from being rejected by Kent at an U19 trial to playing for the All Blacks three years later.

Among other factors such as the representative system by which players from any club could progress, he described the ‘totally different mindset’ towards fitness in NZ.

Salmon’s story has recurred too many times for comfort.

In the late 60s, back rower Peter Bell, having played no higher than Kent junior rugby, played a spell in NZ provincial rugby, frequently with and against All Blacks. Upon his return he joined Blackheath and within four months was capped by England.

A few seasons after Salmon, another Kent lad, John Gallagher, tried his luck in NZ. He too became an All Black, being a member of their 1987 World Cup winning side.

Now a fourth Kent