Beno Obano will join French Top 14 side Pau from Bath at the end of the forthcoming season, putting his England Test career on hold. The 31-year-old loose-head prop, who earned his fifth cap in a July defeat by South Africa, will become the latest England player to move abroad.
Head coach Steve Borthwick selects only from domestically based players as part of an agreement between Premiership clubs and the Rugby Football Union. England have several younger options at loose-head, including Harlequins' Fin Baxter, Northampton's Emmanuel Iyogun, Sale's Bevan Rodd, and Sale's Asher Opoku-Fordjour.
Unlike Tom Willis, who was excluded from England's squad after announcing a move to Bordeaux-Begles despite holding a central contract, Obano is not centrally contracted and may be available for selection this season. Borthwick has focused on players available for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, though Obano is expected to be included in that pool as David Ribbans and Joe Marchant were before the 2023 edition.
Obano joins several other England internationals in France, including Jack Willis, Kyle Sinckler, Billy Vunipola, Manu Tuilagi, Lewis Ludlam and Sam Simmonds. His departure compounds front-row changes at Bath, where South African Thomas du Toit left for the Sharks and Scotland's Jamie Bhatti arrived this summer.
