The Rugby Football Union is to spearhead calls for a crackdown on the international residency laws that allowed Nathan Hughes to make his debut for England this season by demanding that the qualification period increases from three to five years.

World Rugby is due to vote on the issue in May after launching a review involving consultation with 126 unions last November.

Any proposal for change is likely to face considerable opposition – as it did when the issue was last raised following the 2015 World Cup – but the RFU is determined to argue the case and hinted that it may impose its own five-year rule even if it is voted down.

Agustín Pichot, the World Rugby vice-chairman, made it clear on his appointment last summer that he felt three years was too short amid concerns that it was undermining the fabric of the international game and fuelling the player drain from the Pacific Islands.

Countries including Scotland and Ireland have been criticised for targeting young ‘project’ players from the southern hemisphere with the view to bolster their squads after three years.