TOULON BACK ROW Steffon Armitage is exploring the possibility of playing for France at next year’s Rugby World Cup, according to a report.
The Rugby Paper claims the 28-year-old, who was named 2014 ERC Player of the Year, may switch his international allegiance to les Bleus, despite having been capped five times by England already.
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Any move would revolve around a loophole in the IRB’s Olympic Sevens qualifying regulations, which provides ‘capped’ players with the opportunity to swap countries.
Those regulations state that any player who hasn’t played for one of the ‘capped’ teams of their nation in the last 18 months and holds a passport for another country, then they can play in next season’s Sevens World Series for that second country.
Such a switch also qualifies that player to play the 15-a-side union code for their ‘new’ nation. Any transfer of allegiance in this manner is irreversible, as outlined by Fiji 7s coach Ben Ryan recently.
The fact that Armitage has been living in France for the last three years means the explosive back row would be likely to gain a French passport if he applied. The Toulon forward also spent six years living in France in his youth.
Go to pages 149-151 of the IRB Handbook for more on the eligibility exemptions around the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Toulon's Steffon Armitage is considering playing for France - report
TOULON BACK ROW Steffon Armitage is exploring the possibility of playing for France at next year’s Rugby World Cup, according to a report.
The Rugby Paper claims the 28-year-old, who was named 2014 ERC Player of the Year, may switch his international allegiance to les Bleus, despite having been capped five times by England already.
Any move would revolve around a loophole in the IRB’s Olympic Sevens qualifying regulations, which provides ‘capped’ players with the opportunity to swap countries.
Those regulations state that any player who hasn’t played for one of the ‘capped’ teams of their nation in the last 18 months and holds a passport for another country, then they can play in next season’s Sevens World Series for that second country.
Such a switch also qualifies that player to play the 15-a-side union code for their ‘new’ nation. Any transfer of allegiance in this manner is irreversible, as outlined by Fiji 7s coach Ben Ryan recently.
The fact that Armitage has been living in France for the last three years means the explosive back row would be likely to gain a French passport if he applied. The Toulon forward also spent six years living in France in his youth.
Go to pages 149-151 of the IRB Handbook for more on the eligibility exemptions around the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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England international Loophole Sevens Steffon Armitage Toulon