Why England Must Not Change Stance and Select Steffon Armitage

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 16, 2015

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The "should he/shouldn’t he" debate over Stuart Lancaster’s decision not to pick Steffon Armitage for England has confounded pundits and coaches for the last 12 months.

With Ben Morgan’s broken leg, sustained on January 9, seemingly ruling him out at least until England’s World Cup warm-up matches, per the Daily Mail, the Toulon back-rower’s worth as a member of the Red Rose squad has again bubbled to the top of the agenda.

 

A quick recap of the situation

The Rugby Football Union’s position is that no player can be considered for England selection if they are not playing in the English system. As a caveat to that, under exceptional circumstances, Lancaster is able to look overseas for players.

Since moving to Toulon in 2011, Armitage has been a revelation, earning the European Rugby Cup’s European Player of the Year award last season, but Lancaster has stuck to his guns.

The appeal of victory in a World Cup on home soil, however, is enormous. If Armitage’s 2015 form achieves the consistent excellence of the previous campaign, England would be ignoring one of the best back-row players in Europe as they bid to claim a second global title.

But there is more to consider than just this.

 

Where would he play?

So far this season, Armitage has started four games for Toulon in the Top 14 at No. 8 and five at No. 7, per ESPNScrum.com. In the matches he started at No. 8, Toulon won all of them, and they won three of the five when he played on the openside flank. If Lancaster was looking for a reason to pick him, this inconsistency in selection for Armitage's club doesn’t exactly help the England coach.

In October 2014, The Telegraph's Mick Cleary wrote that this sort of detail was "for another day" and Armitage's form made him deserving of the chance to prove himself a worthy challe...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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