Joe Marchant has signed for Sale Sharks and set his sights on playing for England at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
The 29-year-old outside centre and wing has been ineligible for England selection since joining Stade Francais from Harlequins after the 2023 World Cup in France.
Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, has been anxious for Marchant to return to the Gallagher Prem and join a deepening pool of versatile back-line options in the national squad.
Marchant, who has 26 caps, was attracted by the opportunity to play outside of George Ford and in a Sale team ambitious to push on from recent Prem semi-final appearances and win the title.
Sale have committed to increasing their spending on players under the £6.4million salary cap. Alex Sanderson, the director of rugby, said the club had the capacity to afford five world class players.
Sale missed out on signing the England forwards Chandler Cunningham-South and George Martin, but they have landed Marchant as a replacement for Rob du Preez, who will leave at the end of this season.
“Joe has got aspirations to play in the World Cup and that’s part of his motivation for coming back. To do that he needs to play in a championship-competing team and he believes that’s us,” Alex Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby, said.
“He’s got X Factor on both sides of the ball and in the air. He’s some player. We’ve got Rob leaving as you know and he fills that 13 spot for us next season. How good is he going to look outside George Ford?
“He’s excited about the space that he’ll be able to get with the fizz and the accuracy of the passes that Fordy’s able to execute. He’s going to be a real threat for us moving forward in those wider channels, that outside break. He brings gas. If you find him with the ball in a bit of space he’s going to make something of it.
“What I’ve been equally impressed with is his ability to read defensively in those wide channels. It is the most difficult area to defend I reckon because there’s always that space. His ability to read that, reload and then go again is what’s going to supplement our defence which is quite a high-press defence. It’s all about footwork. The people with better feet get in better positions.
“He’s excited about playing outside Fordy and that’s a lot to pull in the conversations we have with players, because of the leader that he is and the form that he’s in. You can build teams around the likes of Fordy and Tom Curry.”
Sanderson said that Sale pulled out of the Cunningham-South deal because he was demanding too much money.
Sanderson spoke to the England camp about their aspirations for Marchant. Borthwick is known to have wanted him back in the Prem. England will have Ollie Lawrence, Joe Marchant and Tommy Freeman as outside centre options next season, potentially Henry Slade too if he signs a new deal with Exeter Chiefs.
“Let’s take Joe, or anyone, but part of the interview process is, ‘What do you want to achieve if you were to come for the next two or three years? Because of the calibre of players we’re looking to sign, most of it is around international honours and World Cups,” Sanderson said.
“So I’ve got to align what we can provide for Joe in this instance with what his ambitions are and I want him to get there because if he’s getting there and playing well, he has to be playing well for us.”
Curry was accused of being a “bully” following an alleged tunnel altercation with Felipe Contepomi, the Argentina head coach, after England’s victory over the Pumas. An investigation is underway but Sale have had no indications that Curry will be in trouble and he is set to play against Exeter Chiefs on Friday.
Sanderson branded the “bully” label as “laughable and ridiculous” and said that it “doesn’t reflect the man he is”.