SPORT England ask for help to prevent Wales poaching their best talent

England are to ask World Rugby bosses for help to stop Wales and the other home nations poaching some of the best young players to come through their system.

A report by The Times claims that the Rugby Football Union will make a clear move in a bid to protect the game across the Severn Bridge.

Scouts from Wales and Ireland are already known to be working within England looking for dual-qualified qualified players, with former Dragons coach Paul Turner employed by the WRU as the head of the Welsh Exiles programme.

England’s concerns about losing top young talent to the Celtic nations was ramped up on Thursday when Scotland officially appointed three former internationals to the role of talent-spotting Scottish-qualified players south of the border.

Wales, Ireland and Scotland know there is a much deeper playing pool in England. One leading example given by The Times is that of Wales and Lions back-row powerhouse Ross Moriarty.

He came through the Gloucester academy and played age-grade rugby for England before electing to follow in the footsteps of his father, Paul, and commit to Wales.

Currently, the RFU are powerless to stop players of dual nationality switching allegiance to another country.

However, The Times reports that England are seeking to protect their investments, with the RFU putting more than £4m a year in the development of young players at the 14 club academies.

Ironically, the move comes after a furore erupted among some fans about the Wales football team successfully persuading highly-rated Liverpool teen wonder Ben Woodburn to choose Wales over the Three Lions. Other dual-qualified football youngsters, including Chelsea’s Ethan Ampadu, have followed Woodburn’s lead.

Attempting to clamp down on their rugby teenagers, a RFU spokesman told the newspaper: “We are aware that other nations actively scout English players in our academies.

“We are looking carefully at this, with the clubs who invest in developing these players for the good of English rugby, and we will be discussing this with World Rugby.”

There is a compensation scheme in place to deal with such issues at the moment – with the package for an English player choosing another nation working out £5,000 per year in development.

With the development years being classed as between 17 and 23-yearsold, the maximum compensation the RFU could receive is £35,000.

Just how much England received from the WRU over Moriarty is unclear.