However while Wales dominated that tournament, France - free from the salary cap - remains the No. 1 domestic destination for the world’s premier players.

Saint-André however views the standard and the allure of the Top 14 as a double-edged sword – insisting the competiton’s star quality brings with it a barrier to the development of French talent.

As a result Les Bleus have an embarrassment of riches in the centres for their trip to Italy on Sunday but at tight-head prop and fly-half the cupboard is relatively bare.

“France have huge competition in some positions for this Six Nations – at centre we have Maxime Mermoz, Florian Fritz, Wesley Fofana, Aurélien Rougerie, Mathieu Bastareaud and Yann David – but not so much at No 10 and also at tight-head prop,” said Saint-André.

“In France last season we had just two tight-heads who were first choice for their clubs.

“On the wing last year I would say that of the 28 first-choice wings in the French T14, just eight were French. It is becoming difficult.”