Revealed: Top England players started less than 40% of Premiership games

Frontline England players started less than 40% of their clubs’ regular season Premiership matches in the 2022-23 campaign, the Guardian can reveal, exposing the full extent of one of the domestic game’s biggest problems.

The 10 players who featured in all – or all but one – of England’s nine matchday squads this season made a combined total of 79 starts in the Premiership out of a possible 203, which equates to 39%. The England captain, Owen Farrell, made the most (11) while Jack van Poortvliet made the least (4). The average across the 10 – the others being Freddie Steward, Henry Slade, Marcus Smith, Ellis Genge, Kyle Sinckler, Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Maro Itoje – was 7.9 matches.

The 44 players who appeared in an England matchday squad started less than 50% of league games on average, demonstrating why Premiership clubs have concluded that there is questionable value in having multiple internationals in their squads when they are available for so little of the season and when the financial compensation diminishes the more Test players they have.

As a result, England players have become a less valuable asset for clubs who are having to operate under a reduced salary cap amid a bleak financial outlook, with London Irish in jeopardy of following Worcester and Wasps into the abyss.

In recent months, central contracts have been mooted as a solution by leading figures including the Rugby Football Union chief executive, Bill Sweeney, and Saracens’ director of rugby, Mark McCall, while a 10-team Premiership is in the pipeline, either from the 2024-25 season when the next Professional Game Agreement kicks in, or next term if London Irish are suspended.

If the Exiles survive, relegation is the most likely means by which