Steffon Armitage’s exile from the England squad is set to continue after the head coach, Stuart Lancaster, reiterated his support for the Rugby Football Union’s rule which discourages the selection of overseas-based players. Unless injury intervenes in the run-up to next year’s Rugby World Cup, the Toulon back-row forward will remain on the outside looking in.
With exquisite timing, England’s New Zealand tour squad announcement on Monday coincided with Armitage being named as the European Player of the Year following his man-of-the-match performance in Saturday’s Heineken Cup final victory over Saracens. Lancaster, however, made clear he had no immediate plans to draft in the 28-year-old because the RFU is wary of encouraging more England players to move across the Channel.
Lancaster is among those keen that England squad members such as Manu Tuilagi, Alex Corbisiero, Courtney Lawes and Owen Farrell are not tempted to abandon the Premiership for the Top 14.
“I wouldn’t do it for the New Zealand tour or the autumn internationals or the Six Nations either,” said Lancaster, having named seven uncapped players in an initial squad of 30 players. “If Steffon or Toby Flood were to go [on tour] what would happen next? It’s not my rule, it’s a rule supported by the clubs, the country, the RFU and the Professional Game Board. If Manu, Corbs, Courtney, Owen chose to go [to France] I think it would have a knock-on effect.
“You want players to play in our club programme because it helps our club game. It helps the development of players, it helps them go head-to-head with each other, it helps because we’re paying an unbelievable amount of money for a club-country relationship that gives you access to players you don’t ordinarily get. The RFU pay Premiership Rugby a lot of money to allow me, as national coach, access to the players in an August camp and in the week before a New Zealand game in November and to play a game against Australia which is outside the IRB window. The list goes on. I don’t think the rule is going to change.”
The counter-argument is that Armitage is playing so well he fits the “exceptional circumstances” clause contained within the RFU directive. One theoretical compromise may be that, for World Cups only, players should be eligible regardless of where they play and Lancaster has not ruled out a call to the former London Irish flanker “close to a World Cup” if injuries do disrupt his tournament preparations.
As far as the All Black tour is concerned, Lancaster cannot confirm precisely who will be available until after this weekend’s Premiership final between Saracens and Northampton. At least a dozen players from the two clubs, plus another 10 injured or unavailable candidates, cannot fly out until next Monday and will be unavailable for the first Test in Auckland on 7 June, prompting call-ups for the Sale fly-half Danny Cipriani, the Worcester full-back Chris Pennell and three uncapped hookers, Dave Ward, Joe Gray and Luke Cowan-Dickie.
James Haskell, one of a handful of survivors from the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad, has also earned a recall but there remain injury doubts over Mako Vunipola, Farrell, Dylan Hartley and Anthony Watson.
Lancaster is optimistic that Farrell (ankle) and Hartley (shoulder) will be available for the last two Tests. “If Dylan comes through this weekend I’d be reasonably certain he’ll be on the plane,” he said. “My understanding is he is very close now. We are two and a half weeks away from the second Test. There’s a very good chance he’s going to be ready by that point.”
