5 Players Who Could Move to France If England Lift Their Overseas Ban

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: April 10, 2015

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Stuart Lancaster faces the toughest decision of his coaching career as he ponders his England squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Chief among the issues to wrestle with is whether to scrap the Rugby Football Union’s rule prohibiting the selection of players based overseas.

The debate has centred on Steffon Armitage since the Toulon back-rower was crowned 2014’s European Player of the Year.

Yet that achievement was still not deemed worthy of Lancaster invoking the "exceptional circumstance" rule that would have allowed him to bring the former London Irish man in from the international wilderness.

The recent European Champions Cup quarter-finals reignited the discussion about England’s stance on overseas players, with Nick Abendanon joining Armitage as a candidate for selection.

The Clermont Auvergne full-back was inspired as his team demolished English champions Northampton, creating and scoring tries for fun.

If it was as simple as boosting England’s chances by having the freedom to judge these players in the same way he assesses those playing in the Premiership, it’s highly likely they would already be penciled in for at least this summer’s extended training squad.

But it’s not. It never is.

The key unintended consequence of scrapping the rule would be fresh conflict between the RFU and English clubs, who are restricted by a salary cap that allows French club sides to attract the best players on much fatter contracts.

The body currently compensates clubs for use of its England players, and players picked for England collect a healthy amount of cash that somewhat balances out the money they miss out on by not hopping across the water to earn the mega money on offer from the likes of Toulon.

But there would be little incentive for those clubs to rear so much young English talent if they couldn’t s...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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