“This is about access to the players, access on an ongoing basis,
communication with directors of rugby, medical and physio- all of that
support team. I think it is very important for the economics of the game as
well.â€
Stuart Lancaster, the England head coach, visited France to speak to Armitage
and his brother Delon, also at Toulon, at the end of last season, and
explain the policy.
“To be clear, it is an RFU policy,†Ritchie said. “Stuart, I happen to know,
agrees with it. But it is not Stuart’s policy. It is an RFU policy which we
are entirely happy with.
“Frankly the issue has to be – I am not going to talk about individuals – in
general terms that we always want people who want to play rugby for England.
That’s what we want and it is very important to the culture.â€
It is understood that privately the RFU feels that, if Armitage really wanted
to play for England, he had an opportunity to return to an English club
earlier this year when his contract with Toulon was being renegotiated.
Armitage has said previously that he was told by Lancaster that he would not
be considered for autumn internationals or the Six Nations because of the
obvious release difficulties. Those release issues would not, however, be a
problem for the World Cup, but Ritchie appeared to rule that out too when
asked what exactly constituted ‘exceptional circumstances’.
“They have got to be pretty exceptional,†the RFU chief executive said. “The
classic is there is no point having a rule if you open the floodgates to
changing it.â€
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Article source: http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/brilliant-ireland-cruise-into-world-cup-semifinals-30495477.html
Steffon Armitage"s hopes of making England squad for 2015 Rugby World Cup ...
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