Joe Marchant is determined to convince England head coach Steve Borthwick of his Test credentials after joining Sale. "I've had a couple of near slip-ups," he says of training, still adjusting from three years at Stade Francais. "You can feel the words coming out wrong." Marchant won the most recent of his 26 England caps in the third-place play-off win over Argentina at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, starting every match bar the pool-stage thrashing of Chile. He then moved straight into Top 14 life and Test exile. "Everyone was going home and for me Paris was my new home," the 30-year-old remembers. He feels more assertive and communicative after the Top 14's physicality.

Borthwick has asked Marchant, like fellow Sale new boy Courtney Lawes, to prove himself in the Prem before any return. "I want to play for England," Marchant says. "I don't want it to be my last time at that World Cup.".