Stuart Lancaster has conceded England would be a potentially bigger 2015 World Cup threat with overseas-based players involved but insists the country’s long-term prospects will be improved by not picking them. The head coach has also made clear there is no chance of a reprieve for the disgraced Manu Tuilagi before 2016 even if his squad suffer a string of injuries.
It is almost unprecedented for any international sporting coach, not least four months prior to a home World Cup, to attach more importance to his team’s future health than short-term success.
Lancaster, however, is adamant he has made the correct decision in refusing to pick Toulon’s Steffon Armitage or Clermont Auvergne’s Nick Abendanon in the 50-man training squad he unveiled at Twickenham yesterday.
“We could take a very short-term view as a coaching team which, ultimately, perhaps would give us individually a better chance of being successful but we don’t believe that is what our job is,” said Lancaster, explaining why he has not sought to revisit the Rugby Football Union’s rule barring French-based players from representing their country other than in “exceptional circumstances”.
“Our long-term plan isn’t just about 2015. Clearly it is hugely important to us but we have never had sustained success. We have the first chance now for a long time, in my opinion, for England to be successful. We don’t want to jeopardise that for one thing.”
It is Lancaster’s belief that picking Armitage, a highly influential figure for the European champions, would undermine “what we have in place in terms of the spirit of the team and its culture”.
The head coach said he had not been influenced by comments from squad members suggesting they wanted the rule to be upheld – “I haven’t spoken to any of the players about it because I don’t think it’s appropriate. It’s my decision” – and remains sure he and the RFU are doing the right thing. Not everyone will agree with it but I’d like to think now at least everyone out there can understand why it is the position. I think it is 100% the right system. Our national game and our club game are interrelated. I don’t think one can exist without the other. If the star players weren’t playing for their clubs I think we’d struggle to be consistent in Europe. The bit that needs debating is whether you have a clause in there at all. That’s not my decision … it’s above my head. There’s only a certain amount I can control.”
At the root of the problem has been the RFU’s recurring failure to make crystal clear what is covered by the “exceptional circumstances” clause instigated during the short-lived tenure of the RFU’s former chief executive, John Steele. There were even indications as recently as December that Lancaster was still considering Armitage for his training squad. It remains unclear whether the player’s alleged involvement in a drunken fracas in a bar in Toulon before Christmas had any influence on the final decision.
What is certain is that Tuilagi will not be wearing an England shirt this autumn. Lancaster, who has named the Saracens trio of David Strettle, Chris Ashton and 20-year-old Maro Itoje in his training squad, described the Leicester’s player’s conviction for assault last week as “disappointing in every way, shape and form” and feels that dropping him was the “right stance” to take. “The bottom line is that when you are an England player and there is an incident of that nature there has to be a sanction that reflects the incident,” he stressed.
