Wallabies back Rob Horne has reportedly signed a three-year deal with English club Northampton, meaning his Test career may be over.
The 27-year-old, who joined the Waratahs as a teenaged outside centre but has been preferred on the wing in recent seasons, is set to make the move to England at the end of the upcoming Super Rugby season or after the Rugby Championship if he's picked in Australia's squad.
However, Michael Cheika might opt to look elsewhere given the deal rules Horne out of contention for the 2019 World Cup and with 33 Test appearances, he's well under the minimum 60 caps required for overseas-based players to be eligible for Wallabies selection.
"He has been a wonderful servant, he's been at this club since he was 18 years old, has over 100 caps for the team and he's been an upstanding role model," Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson told News Limited in all but confirming Horne's move.
After racking up his 100th Super Rugby match for NSW last year, Horne played four Tests before dislocating his shoulder in the Wallabies' Bledisloe Cup defeat in Sydney.
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He missed the rest of the year while he recovered from surgery but despite not being named for the trial against the Brumbies last weekend, he's tracking well to be fit for the start the Super Rugby season in two weeks.
At Northampton, Horne will join England internationals Dylan Hartley, Luther Burrell and Courtney Lawes as well as Welsh winger George North.
At the end of last season, the Wallabies lost another classy back when Matt Toomua - at the age of 26 - took up a rich deal with Northampton's English Midlands rivals Leicester.
