England manger Martin Johnson, wanting nothing to derail England after building up a useful head of steam in the summer, spent Wednesday successfully, it would appear, avoiding another wounding row over his England players based in France.
The French or to be precise Stade Francais and Toulon - insist that the England camp falls outside any IRB international window and on this occasion their domestic needs must take precedence.
“We believe that these have been the right decisions to take after close and amicable consultation with the clubs concerned,” said Johnson. “We will continue to have regular contact and subject to fitness look forward to seeing all of the players when we meet again at the end of October ahead of the Investec internationals.”
The RFU has an “eight-year” agreement with the Premiership clubs whereby Elite Player Squad members are automatically released for such England summer camps and the RFU insists that all players seeking to play in France and represent England must have that clause replicated in their individual contracts with those clubs.
Stade and Touloun strongly dispute the latter and in March last year Stade owner Max Guazzini wildly accused England of “blackmail” when they refused to release Haskell for a match against Toulouse during a fallow week in the Six Nations although England were fully entitled to retain him in camp between matches. The situation is much less clear cut on this occasion and Johnson has opted for the concilatory appraoch.
"It is not a confrontation,” insisted Toulon spokesman Benjamin Larrue talking to Telegraph Sport on Wednesday night. “Toulon and England have worked very well together concerning Jonny and we have been talking again this week because we always support his desire to play international rugby for England.
"But we also believe it is clear from the contract he signed with Toulon that his first allegiance on Aug 13 is to Toulon. Our club rugby season has started and takes precedence. In addition now he has a blow on his shoulder and he will need daily treatment and assessment to play against Bayonne.”
Meanwhile Johnson recieved the encouraging news that Andrew Sheridan has been named in Sale’s 26-man squad for their friendly at Clermont Auvergne on Friday night after being sidelined for nine months after dislocating a shoulder against Cardiff in October. Johnson named Sheridan in his EPS squad last month despite the prop’slong lay-off.
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