England coaching staff... Y u no pick him?

Hhhttttt

is that a hatrick #england

Hatrick?

The man!

He's interested in play with France... Last English cap in 2010? They don't call Cipriani but are gonna call Armitage?

I hope they don't pick him- don't need him, and he's interested in French money more than representing his country. Keep faith in the current lot I say

Bollocks, he's the best back row forward in the country.England need him.

In the country? In the world! -_-

Lucas he has said he isn't interested in playing for france in would take him a year to qualify

He wants to play for England! Not France.

Nothing but a mercenary willing to play for whichever country will pay him. Not what English rugby needs. Got to think about the club game.

He's just getting as much out of his career as quickly as he can, why should we ridicule him for that.

he is English and openly says he wants to play for England again, he has seen his chance with Morgans injury and responded with a hattrick... he MUST be selected!

Lads leave him alone he can do what he wants

It's a professional sport, so why shouldn't a professional seek to maximise his earning potential? The guy should be allowed play for England, regardless of where he plays his club rugby. A country should use their best players, regardless. And this is coming from an Irishman...

The point it's not if Armitage wins more of less money in France or England. What's matters is that rugby can't follow the same paths that football did. Probably here there's a lot of football supporters, I'm supporter of my local club in Spain, the point is that rugby has something different. Yes it's a sport and they are allowed to try to secure they future maximising they earnings but sadly we've seen that in football. The Spanish league it's a ****, like Italian or French....the premiership....all this money kills the competition. Rugby it's different and we all must take care of them. All this Toulon signings, or Racing Metro paying 1 million pounds to Dan Carter....that it's a nonsense in our sports. That's the point

America instituted a "salary cap" for American football teams in the NFL. As a result, the teams are evenly (enough) matched on the pitch. I have no clue if European rugby clubs have salary caps, but players should be compensated (well, in my opinion) for their participation indeed. A salary cap simply "evens the playing field."

It's up to the Chiefs at ERC HQ. If they are happy with a French monopolisation of club rugby in Europe then we'll just see the status quo retained. Toulon are the Real Madrid of rugby, with Racing Metro prob not that far behind. Until the powers that be, step in to level the playing field, the champions cup will just be an extension of the French league

The same thing happens in American baseball. The best players get paid 5x more to play for New York (Yankees) or Boston (Red Sox) while the rest of the clubs pay their ENTIRE TEAM what New York pays ONE player. Money & sports. Gotta love being human.

John M. You're hitting the note, that's what I'm trying to say. This competition isn't attractive. Ok, one day it's possible to see for example like the other week Toulon defeated by the Tigers in Welford Road, and that's quite amazing but...sadly unusual. I'm rugby fan since a couple of years or so and what catched me was the equality between teams and the intensity and solidarity in the pitch. I follow the Aviva Premiership and Guinness Pro12 but I'm a Irish rugby lover. That's true that they deserve being well compensated but I'm sure that exists some ways to find a common point between the teams, the federation of each country and the players. In the NBA exists so, you can pay a guy like Carmelo Anthony but the rest of the team it's a mess. Here in Spain La Liga it's horrible because it's controlled by interests of Real Madrid and Barcelona. The pay 100 million € for one player: James, Cristiano, Bale, Luis Suàrez, Ibra....and that's disgusting even when Atlético appears. All the clubs are controlled by their salaries and how many money owes except them.

hip!

Lucas, you give a powerful argument for a salary cap indeed. I agree with you! I'm ok with it being a very high salary cap, but it needs to be capped none the less.