Beno Obano is heading to France. The Bath loose-head prop has agreed to join Top 14 side Pau at the end of the forthcoming season, a move that will put his England Test career on hold under existing rules between Premiership clubs and the Rugby Football Union.
According to BBC Sport, head coach Steve Borthwick is restricted to a domestic-based talent pool as a key part of the relationship between Prem clubs and the RFU over elite players. That arrangement has increasingly pushed English players abroad, and Obano will now join a lengthy list of England internationals currently playing club rugby in France.
Obano won his fifth England cap in the defeat by South Africa in July, coming off the bench behind first-choice loose-head Ellis Genge. At 31, he is older than several rivals for that position. Harlequins' Fin Baxter, Northampton's Emmanuel Iyogun, and Sale's Bevan Rodd are all younger and competing for the same role. Sale also has 22-year-old Asher Opoku-Fordjour, who can play on the loose-head side of the front row.
BBC Sport reported it is unlikely England will rule out selecting Obano entirely this season. That stands in contrast to the treatment of Tom Willis, who announced in October that he would move to Bordeaux-Begles for 2026-27. Despite starting three matches in the 2025 Six Nations, impressing in a summer series win over Argentina, and earning a central contract, Willis was exiled from the squad. Borthwick chose instead to focus on players who would be available for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Obano is not on a central contract and will be available for the 2027 World Cup, which may work in his favor. BBC Sport noted that David Ribbans and Joe Marchant both went into the 2023 Rugby World Cup having already agreed moves to France for the following season.
When Obano does leave Bath, his departure will add to significant front-row upheaval at the club. South African prop Thomas du Toit left for the Durban-based Sharks at the end of the last campaign. Scotland international Jamie Bhatti arrived this summer as one response to those losses.
Obano will join Jack Willis, Kyle Sinckler, Billy Vunipola, Manu Tuilagi, Lewis Ludlam, and Sam Simmonds as England players currently based in France and outside England eligibility.
His final season at Bath begins with the club already adjusting its front-row depth. How Borthwick uses the remaining months before Obano's departure could determine whether the prop earns any further caps before crossing the Channel.