The boss of Premiership Rugby says it is vital to keep rules in place which prevent England from picking overseas-based players.

Amid calls to relax the policy, Simon Massie-Taylor says it is "really important" for English rugby.

"We need to keep the talent within our system," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"It has always been the desire, certainly from the Premiership side of things, to have the talent there to help grow the league, but from an England point of view it allows them more access and more time to train with England within club time.

"That doesn't happen if a player is playing abroad in a different league, so you have an access issue which affects England performance."

The RFU says players based outside the English top flight can only be picked in exceptional circumstances.

The Rugby Players' Association is among those to call for the restrictions to be temporarily lifted in light of a lowered salary cap, and while Massie-Taylor admits there is currently a financial gap between the Premiership and France's Top 14, he feels it is a "lot narrower" than is being portrayed.

"There has always been a gap between what our clubs spend and what is spent in France," Premiership Rugby's chief executive said.

"That gap got wider during the Covid period but will narrow again when the salary cap goes back up in 2024-2025.

"But coupled with that - and we have looked into this in a bit more detail - the average salaries across the league are comparable, but also if you look at the top talent as well - the top 10, 20, 30, 40 [players], they are comparable as well.

"Now there will always be opportunities for players to find a better paid job abroad or in another system. But we are still relatively competitive at the moment and as I say that gap [with France] will narrow further in a few years."

Massie-Taylor accepts there are "a few issues" at certain clubs when it comes to retaining talent, with Exeter seeing about 20 players depart at the end of the season including England stars Jack Nowell, Sam Simmonds and Luke Cowan-Dickie.

The Chiefs signed a number of players on three-year contracts in 2020, deals which are now about to run out, but Massie-Taylor also points to the big-name players who are either entering or staying in the league next season.

"What we are seeing is the maturation of these contracts that had been signed during the Covid period reach a pinch-point before the salary cap goes back and so it has created a few issues within clubs," he said.

"Now I would say on the flip side we have Zach Mercer coming back into the system who is the Top 14 player of the year last season, we've got Finn Russell coming into the system, with Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes signed up over the weekend.

"So we are not seeing an exodus here."