Flutey has become a regular fixture for England at inside centre

Riki Flutey's shoulder injury has highlighted the difficulty England have with top stars playing in France, says RFU director of elite rugby Rob Andrew.

Flutey, 29, aggravated a long-standing problem on his debut for French club Brive earlier this month and will miss England's November internationals.

"There were a lot of issues around Riki," said Andrew.

"About whether he should or should not play in the game that led to him having a shoulder injury."

The England medical team did not want Flutey to play against Clermont Auvergne but did not have the jurisdiction to remove him from the game.

wWdon't have the same level of control with the players we would want Rob Andrew

"The reality is that his shoulder would have needed an operation at some point over the next few months," said Andrew.

"There was ongoing dialogue over whether he should play on that particular weekend or whether he should be given another weekend to rehab.

"The medical view was that we would have preferred him not to play that weekend. He wasn't necessarily being put at risk by playing but our preference was that he should be given another week."

Jonny Wilkinson left Newcastle for Toulon over the summer but he has all of the England release clauses written into his contract, giving England the same access as if he were still with the Falcons.

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The same is not the case for Flutey, James Haskell or any of the other England players who moved to France last summer.

"We expressed very clearly our concerns a year ago as to how moving to France would impact on a player's international selection because we don't have the same level of control with the players we would want," said Andrew.

"We are monitoring very closely just what impact this will have over the course of the season because when we come to next year, the last season before the World Cup, we need to be very clear what issues we might have."

England play Australia at Twickenham on 7 November before taking on Argentina and New Zealand on the following two weekends.

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