England Rugby Must Abolish Overseas Player 'Exceptional Circumstance' Clause

England rugby union coach Stuart Lancaster has confirmed that France-based stars Steffon Armitage of Toulon and Nick Abendanon of Clermont Auvergne will not feature for England at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. This was after declining to exercise the “exceptional circumstances” clause: an add-on to England’s policy of not selecting those playing club rugby overseas.

England, in deciding not to pick either 2014 European Rugby Player of the Year Armitage, or the 2015 winner of the same award, Abendanon, have made a conclusive statement that no matter how good their form and England’s deficiencies in their positions, overseas players will not be selected.

In particular, if Armitage, the best back-rower in Europe is not an “exceptional circumstance,” then who could ever possibly be picked for England when playing abroad? As a result, England and the RFU need to scrap a clause that only provides unnecessary distractions for players and the coaching staff.

Keep the message simple: To play for England, players must be playing in England: full stop.

Lancaster, in a video interview with the BBC, made the most compelling defence yet for England’s policy, citing New Zealand’s decision not to pick world-class prop Carl Hayman at the 2011 World Cup, despite Toulon agreeing to release him.

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Lancaster also mentioned New Zealand’s refusal to select Harlequin’s Nick Evans, despite the fact that injuries to their three first-choice 10s, Dan Carter, Aaron Crudden and Colin Slade, left them with their fourth-choice, Stephen Donald, at fly-half for the World Cup final.

England have taken the decision not to select Armitage or Abendanon primarily to maintain the strength of the domestic competition, the Aviva Premiership, but also because agreements with Premiership clubs allow England to call up players for training camps during the regular club season. In France, such arrangements do not exist.

The Premiership as a feeder for England is the more important factor of the two as it is not inconceivable that the best players in Europe, such as Armitage and Abendanon, could demand their own clauses with French clubs to attend England training, rather like Northampton Saints’ George North has with Wales.

Abendanon, though, whose form with Clermont has far surpassed his performances with Bath in previous seasons, told Sky Sports he was “gutted” to have been omitted, adding:

"If England had decided to bring in French players, I think me and Steffon probably would have been itching to get hold of English clubs to take us back to the Premiership."

The way that Armitage and Abendanon have both excelled overseas remains the best argument for invoking the clause.

Strong cases can be made in favour and against England’s policy of not selecting overseas-based players, but the most important thing is that England abolish the “exceptional circumstances” clause as, realistically, it will never be invoked. It muddies the issue and provides an unnecessary distraction for the England team.