“Dreamed of playing football” – 5 of England’s highest-rated youngsters who failed to deliver

The England squad has a reputation for cultivating exceptional talent that has shone brightly in international rugby.

Nevertheless, this article highlights that not all players reach the pinnacle of success and ignite the field at Twickenham.

The Haywards Heath-born Number 8 joined Harlequins from Brighton College and captained England U18s to victory in the FIRA European tournament.

Chisholm represented England Under 20s during the 2014 Six Nations and won the Junior World Championship later that year. In 2015, James helped the U20s to the Six Nations title, before being named as the World Rugby Young Player of the Year.

He is one of only two English players to win the award (the other is George Ford).

Despite being a key cog for Harlequins down the years, he's never made a senior appearance for England.

Where is he now? Still playing at Quins, he has a coaching role at Farnham RFC alongside fellow quin Max Crumpton

The wonderkid won 23 caps for England between 2001 and 2008, and such was his early reputation that he featured for England before his club debut with Bath. A graceful left-footer able to play at fly-half or inside-centre, Barkley should have been a mainstay in the England midfield after the retirement of Will Greenwood.

The strange thing about Barkley is that it is hard to say where it all went wrong. Although he was never blessed with great pace, the playmaker kicked well from the tee and out of hand, was a fine distributor and hardly a weak player in defence. He is possibly the biggest mystery of English rugby from the 2000s.

After retiring, he revealed that his heart wasn't always in rugby as he always dreamed of playing football.

The Australian-born back row forward had a fast rise to fame as he captained the 2013 England U20s to Six Nations and Junior World Cup titles, before representing England 7s during the HSBC World Sevens Series in Japan and Hong Kong.

He would soon go on to make his England debut in the 2016 RBS Six Nations Championship. This was followed by the successful 2016 tour to Australia and the record-setting international win streak.

However, due to a succession of injuries since 2017, he failed to win another cap and was forced to retire in August 2020 due to a shoulder problem.

Where is he now? He's now looking towards the next chapter of his life after marrying his long-term partner Karis

The speedy Saracens wing had a 100m time best of 10.86secs and played in every U20 Six Nations after scoring on his debut.

After struggling for game time at Allianz Park, Perkins joined Bristol Bears at the start of the 2017/18 season, where he joined up with new Director of Rugby Pat Lam, who described him as a 'special talent'.

However, during an injury hit spell in the West Country, he did not make a league outing for the Bears before leaving by mutual consent.

Where is he now? He now works as a Technical Talent Consultant while also playing for Westcombe Park in London 1 South.

Sir Clive Woodward tipped the centre to be a global superstar towards the end of his England reign. Although he was initially ignored by Andy Robinson, Smith came into the reckoning for the 2005 Six Nations and was named as part of an enlarged British and Irish Lions squad in 2005.

However, Smith struggled to nail down a regular spot in England squads and he left Leicester Tigers in 2008 after a loss of form.

He played for Montpellier for two seasons and then came back to England with Harlequins before retiring in 2012 after a knee injury.

Where is he now? Coached Esher after retiring, but stepped down following one season as head coach