There was a time when David Ribbans sweated over England squad announcements like the one on Friday inviting 36 players to the October 7-9 training camp ahead of the upcoming Autumn Nations Series. Not anymore. These days, rather than trying to catch the eye of Steve Borthwick (and Eddie Jones before him), the focus is very, very different.
Toulon is now home, not Northampton, and it’s all about doing his very best in the Top 14, not perspiring over whether his efforts for Saints were enough to stamp his international-level ticket. The irony behind his ‘quit’ notice was that after all the false hope of tackle bag holding and making up the numbers on the England fringe without togging on match day, he had finally been capped.
Jones used him on three occasions off the November 2022 bench at Twickenham but when the next Six Nations swung around, Borthwick was at the helm and Ribbans, the South African eligible via an English…
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