Steffon Armitage’s prospects of making an England rugby comeback have receded after coach Eddie Jones denied speaking with the Toulon flanker and mocked the French club’s comic book owner Mourad Boudjellal.
The controversial Boudjellal claims Armitage told him Jones had been in contact to clear the path to an international return after six years in exile due to Twickenham’s edict that overseas players can only be selected in exceptional circumstances.
“Steffon asked to leave Toulon and go and play in an English club and for the England team. It’s his ambition, so why not?” Boudjellal told Eurosport TV.
Armitage, 2014 European player of the season, has one year left on his contract.
Boudjellal insists the 30-year-old back-rower “has a price and it’s expensive”, but his route back for England appears even harder after head coach Jones stated the conversation never took place.
“You’ve got to remember the bloke who makes the comments writes comic books. I will leave it at that,” Jones said.
“I don’t know whether he writes them or sells them but he has made plenty of money out of them. Batman and Robin won’t be in the team.”
When asked if there had been any contact with Armitage, Jones said: “Not that I know of.
“People have false Facebook posts and false Twitter accounts, so I suppose you can have a false phone call.
“I don’t control him. It’s got nothing to do with me. He is not eligible to play for England.”
Wasps are favourites to sign the former London Irish forward, who won five caps in 2009-10.
England have gathered in Brighton to prepare for their Test against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday week, a match that that will serve as the warm-up to their series against Australia in June.
Jones refuses to subscribe to the traditional explanation for a poor end-of-season tour being that it bookends an arduous campaign.
“I remember one of the first staff meetings we had after the Six Nations when the staff started saying ‘they’ve had a long, hard season’,” Jones said.
“The southern hemisphere come here in November – do the All Blacks ever complain about a long, hard season? They enjoy it and they play super rugby.
“There’s no reason why we can’t go to Australia and play super rugby.”
Timbo
Guest
"George Smith is leaving and at 35 he was voted the best player in aviva (says a lot about aviva too , doesn’t it :) )" No; not really CUW. It's fairly common for the winner of the Aviva player of the year to be a non-current international as the internationals are away playing the 6 Nations and November games, so don't get to dominate in the league. To illustrate, Itoje has won European Player of the Year (the 4th consecutive English player to win it), because that includes all performances.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
http://www.worldrugby.org/rankings/mru points are always on offer. There would be potential to drop below SA I think (They won't gain points playing Ireland though - we can only lose them).
Brizvegas
Guest
Hay TWAS are there ranking points associated with the English games? If England won would they move up and Australia down?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I love how everybody's opinion of Eddie changes because he's aiming at an unpopular target this time.
Marius Ciliers
Roar Guru
Might get a copping for this one..but i kinda hoped he would have stayed on for Japan. Perhaps have taken over the sunwolwes. Groom them shape n mold them. Would have been a hell of legacy he left come the next RWC. But..he chose money..err wait..the stormers..err wait no..the bloody english... I dont understand rugby anymore..
Johnny Boy Jnr
Guest
I think you'll find the ARU can be quite competitive when it needs to be to retain key players. As if Money Merc Folau wouldn't have left if this wasn't the case. I'm not suprised by Beale leaving as although Cheika and Sydney fans wanted him to stay, he has undoubtably left an impression on many power brokers with his behaviour and more than a few catastrophic performances over the years. In your list above NB only Kepu and Holmes stand out as big losses to the ARU. Liam Gill is probably the greatest but he's not a Waratah and not wanted. Quade, Giteau, Mitchell, Higginbotham, JOC, White and Horwill could barely make the 23. Betham and Kimlin were lucky to crack the touring squad
timbo
Guest
"It says a lot about the arrogance of the RFU that they wouldn’t select Armitage and preferred to reanimate the corpse of Nick Easter’s career" What's arrogance got to do with it? The English clubs were worried that French clubs were going to price them out of the market for English players, and the RFU were also worried that they'd struggle to gain release of players for England squad get togethers etc. Therefore, they put in a policy of England-based players only except 'exceptional' circumstances. These weren't defined but it was clear that what was intended was a situation in which, for example, the top 5 international tighthead props were injured and the choice was an experienced international based in France or some kid straight out of the under-20 squad. 'Exceptional' wasn't intended to be 'we have a better player in France so screw all those players that have rejected big money French deals and chosen to fight for their places in England'. The RFUs stance in the RWC was admirable, particularly as the press were clamouring to get Armitage in. Can I suggest adjusting the 'predictive text' function on your PC/Phone, so that the word 'arrogant' doesn't automatically pop-up in connection with anything English?
wardad
Guest
I dont like his comic book knocking ,the rest is just fine though !
Bakkies
Guest
Tries too but ultimately loses.
CUW
Guest
it was not arrogance of england , it was the arrogance of the aviva clubs , who basically run the show. maybe we shud call it collective bargaining power ! the clubs were afraid the very good england players will got off to france becoz france top 14 has more money. while i dont know the exact amounts , the french and english salary caps are different - higher in france. there is another rule that was at the instigation of clubs - that a coach cannot change his squads for a certain set period. that is why when Jones took over from Lancaster after the world cup , he could only make 10 changes to the 30 selected by Lancaster. (it applies to both first and second teams). this again to make sure the player availability for clubs . they tried to make it all look above board by putting in that "special circumstances" or something like that clause for selecting players outside aviva. but it has never been used. there was a suggestion that it shud be used to get Sam Underhill , who is in ireland or scotland for the auzzy tour (he is there becos he is going to university there and playing rugger there - he is like 19 or 20). but so far nothing has come about. but they are afraid of losing him , coz he qualifies for USA by birth.
felix
Guest
I wonder what MB responce would be," yeah whatever Eddie,if you were material I could buy you". :-D Good one Eddie!!
ClarkeG
Guest
My reply was to Alex and should be taken in that context. We are in agreement.
PeterK
Roar Guru
until last year the same could have been said of australia and even now for a player with less than 60 caps. If a wallaby was playing super rugby in nz or sa or argentina or japan then they would not be eligible. Same with NZ. So if England were arrogant then so are aust and nz.
Not Bothered
Guest
Aus doesnt outbid overseas countries for Wallabies in case you hadnt noticed. It also doesnt outbid the NRL much if at all for NRL players anymore. Quade, Genia, Giteau, Betham, AAC, Mitchell, Kepu, Holmes, Higginbotham, Mowen, Kimlin, JOC, Beale, Toomua, White, Gill and Horwill are all Wallabies that have left to go overseas recently and Aus did no outbidding there.
Not Bothered
Guest
Not entirely true. Hes eligible but they choose not to select him because he doesnt play in England.
CUW
Guest
WASPS are interested if the report is true. George Smith is leaving and at 35 he was voted the best player in aviva (says a lot about aviva too , doesn't it :) ) also reported that wasps are bringing Willie Leraux to replace Piutau who is also leaving. When u can offer blank chqs IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING :D
CUW
Guest
nah Cheika has a long way to go before he can duel with JOnes (unless he has been practicing since the world cup). jones gets to see this kind of thing every weekend with the footy and rugger managers , on telly papers everywhere. particularly funny when guys like Klopp and Maurinho , who are not that very conversant in english try to be funny :D i mean ben ryan closed the media briefing becoz the peeps were disrespectful to the security guard , LOL all becoz they did not maintain a 1 meter gap??? now that is something the argie ref can learn from :P
CUW
Guest
it is amazing how quickly Eddie Jones has adapted to the English media circus. he is fast becoming Klopp of rugger :P wonder if he gets a cut from the sound bites that sell the papers :D
ClarkeG
Guest
Cheika v Jones will be fun I'm thinking.
Johnny Boy Jnr
Guest
I think the RFU's stance is on Armitage is commendable. I even think the way back for Australian rugby (which is broke) is the long and hard one where investment is focused on junior clubs and school leavers rather than outspending the NRL and overseas clubs to retain/recruit Wallabies. Sure it will weaken the national side for a while and we will lose players developed by Australian rugby. The upside is it will rebuild our IP or Wallaby brand of rugby not to mention strengthen the depth in coaching and player base The Force needs to be cut loose and the number of board members hailing from NSW need to be reduced dramatically.