England should end overseas player ban
France-based Barbarian says playing abroad’s very helpful
STEFFON Armitage has urged England bosses to end the ban on selecting stars based overseas that stalled his Test career six years ago. Armitage helped Toulon lift three successive European titles in a glittering five-year stint with the Cote d’Azur heavyweights. Now with Pau, the 31-year-old has remained stuck on just five caps owing to his move to France – but insisted he will never regret moving abroad. Armitage believes every England player who has experienced French club rugby has improved, and challenged the Rugby Football Union to change their policy and take full advantage. “I would definitely say they should lift that ban,” said Armitage, who will line up against England for the Barbarians at Twickenham this afternoon.
“Players need to feel like they’ve got a right to and achieve better, to want better. Rugby careers are really short and you’re taking that right away from them.
“Quite a lot of them are going to look back and say ‘what if’ and you should never have that throughout your career. You should be happy with what you’ve achieved.
“Most of those guys as well believe that they are taking a massive risk as well.
“They are taking their whole family and are moving to a different country.
“That’s actually showing that those guys have got some guts and they want to become better players. It might work, it might not work but they are willing to give it a go.
“I’m for it, I’m for the guys being available, wherever they want to play.”