He was also part of the England Under 21 squad that competed in the 2006 Six Nations Championship and the 2006 Under 21 Rugby World Championship.

Will Greenwood declared on 12 December 2008 that Robshaw was pushing for international honours owing to his current form, and he was fighting for a place on the upcoming Lions tour to South Africa, as an ‘uncapped’ Lion. Greenwood also went on to compare Robshaw to World Cup-winning blindside flanker Richard Hill.

Robshaw was named on 19 May 2009 in the England squad to play the Barbarians and Argentina. He played in a defeat by the Barbarians. Robshaw later replaced James Haskell in the starting line-up for the return fixture against the Argentines in Salta, Argentina, winning his debut cap in a Test match defeat by Argentina.

He was reinstated into the England EPS Squad on 25 January 2010, owing to a knee injury sustained by Tom Croft.

In January 2012, Robshaw was announced as England captain for the first two games of the 2012 Six Nations, despite only previously obtaining a single cap. He went on to captain England throughout the rest of the tournament, featuring a clean sweep of away wins at Scotland, Italy and France, as well as a win at Twickenham against Ireland and a narrow loss to eventual Grand Slam winners Wales. He was retained as captain of the England side for their series defeat in South Africa, in which he played only two tests after fracturing his thumb. Despite defeats by both Australia and South Africa, Robshaw captained his team to victory against New Zealand at the end of 2012.

He scored his first Test try in England’s 20-13 win over Australia on 2 November 2013. His second try was against Italy, in a 52-11 win. This was England’s last game in the 2014 RBS Six Nations.

Following England’s dismal performance at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Robshaw lost his national captaincy in January 2016 to hooker Dylan Hartley, but retained his place as a starter, changing positions that year, being shifted to blindside flanker. England won the Grand Slam in 2016, and then toured Australia, whitewashing the Wallabies in the three test series. Robshaw earned his 50th test cap and, in the same game, Man of the Match, as he helped England clinch the series win with a 23-7 victory in the second test.

He was engaged to his girlfriend of 6 years, Camilla Kerslake, before they married in France on 29 June 2018.

Robshaw continued to be an integral part of the England team under Eddie Jones; although he missed England’s victorious 2017 6 Nations campaign through injury, he was part of the leadership group of a largely inexperienced side that toured Argentina in 2017- winning the series 2-0- and captained England for the final time in that year’s autumn internationals, in a win against Samoa. Robshaw played his final test for England on the 2018 tour to South Africa, in the winning the final test.

In June 2020, it was confirmed Robshaw will remain at Harlequins throughout the remainder of the truncated 2019–20 season.

Chris Robshaw had been picked in the Barbarians Squad to face England on 25 October 2020 in a warm-up match before the resumption of the delayed 2019-20 Six Nations season.