Prince Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky fled from Russia with his family in 1917 and would later star in an England shirt © Getty Images

While the promotion of the likes of Kiwi-born Thomas Waldrom and Samoan Manu Tuilagi to England's Rugby World Cup training squad caused a stir in some quarters, those more familiar with the history of the game knew better.

There is nothing ground-breaking or revelatory about England selecting players who were not born in the country and to prove this point we went to a man who knows more than most - our very own John Griffiths. In his fortnightly column, Ask John, he amazes his readers with his knowledge of the history of the game and we knew he could help us out.

His unrivalled archive was soon generating name after name and before long he had 100 foreign-born England internationals. At this point we stood him down, the point had been made.

So here is the results of his efforts - a by no means definitive list of 100 or so players who were not born in England (and for the purposes of this investigation we have not included those born in Wales/Scotland/Ireland/Isle of Man/Channel Islands - that would be ridiculous) but were deemed good enough to play Test rugby for their adopted nation.

Born in Africa: (mostly in SA)
Adedayo Adebayo
Stuart Abbott
Nick Abendanon
Geoff Appleford
Clive Ashby
Brian Black
Freddie Brooks
Mike Catt
James Davey
Noel Estcourt
Tim Francis
Hendre Fourie
HD "Trilby" Freakes
Reg Hands
Andrew Harriman
Stan Harris
Murray Hofmeyr
John Hopley
Mike Horak
Andy Hurst
Bob Kennedy
Jan Krige
Nick Labuschagne
Ron Lagden
Frank Mellish
JG "Jumbo" Milton
Cecil Milton (not sure)
Sid Newman
Ossie Newton-Thompson
Steve Ojomoh
HG "Tuppy" Owen-Smith
Simon Shaw
Harry Small
Matt Stevens
WB Thomson
Victor Ubogu
Clive van Ryneveld
Fraser Waters
Steve White-Cooper
Rupert Williamson
DS "Tug" Wilson

Born in New Zealand:
Alan Adams
Ian Botting
Martin Donnelly
Ernest Fookes
Ricki Flutey
Perry Freshwater
Shontayne Hape
Dylan Hartley
Alex Palmer
Ernest Parsons
Henry Paul
Mark van Gisbergen

Born in Tonga:
Lesley Vainikolo

Born in Australia:
LG "Bruno" Brown
Lyndhurst Giblin
David Paice
Garnet Portus
Frank Scott
BH "Jika" Travers
Gregory Wade
Larry Webb
S M J "Sammy" Woods

Born in India:
John Batten
James Bush
Charles Cleveland
William Collins
Stanley Considine
Harold Day
Arthur Fagan
Evan Hardy
Robert Henderson
Philip Jacob
Nick Jeavons
d'Oyly Lyon
Maurice McCanlis
Norman McLeod
Frank Malir
Richard Sharp
SR "Steve" Smith
Arthur Young

Born in Pakistan:
Chris Butcher

Born in Ceylon:
William Leake

Born in Malaysia:
Tony Underwood

Born in Hong Kong:
Ron Gerrard
Jamie Salmon

Born in China:
Jeff Reynolds

Born in USA:
Alex Corbisiero
Eddie Myers

Born in Canada:
Pat Sykes

Born in the West Indies:
Delon Armitage
Steffon Armitage

Born in Belgium:
John Raphael

Born in Germany:
Paul Ackford
Phil Christophers

Born in Russia:
Alex Obolensky

Born in Argentina:
Barry Holmes

Born in Malta:
David A Cooke

Born in the Canary Islands:
Douglas Baker