Gloucester number eight Zach Mercer says he loved playing for Montpellier in France’s Top 14 as you “couldn’t get picked for England”.

The Rugby Football Union’s policy of not selecting players based overseas meant that was not something Mercer had to consider.

Mercer, who collected two England caps in 2018, won the Top 14 title and was named the league’s player of the year in 2022 during his two seasons in France before returning last season to the Premiership.

The 26-year-old returned to secure a place in England’s Rugby World Cup squad last autumn, but missed out on Steve Borthwick’s final squad and has not added to his two caps.

“It wasn’t the plan to come back to England and not play for them. There are no regrets but what-ifs,” Mercer told BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly.

“A lot of people say you must regret coming home. Rugby is a bigger picture and I’ve got an 11-month-old daughter now. Could I imagine my wife giving birth over in France and having no family over there? Probably not.

“For that aspect I don’t regret coming home at all. I love Gloucester as a club.

“I loved France as you couldn’t get picked for England, so you didn’t have the pressure of that and when a squad is announced wondering if I am in.”