Armitage's Bath move off, says Ford

Bath head coach Mike Ford says Steffon Armitage is unlikely to join the club as negotiations between the two parties have stalled.

Facing a back-row injury crisis, Bath were hoping to sign Armitage from European champions Toulon until the end of the season.

Alafoti Fa'osiliva, Carl Fearns, Matt Garvey and Francois Louw are all sidelined and Bath expect Leroy Houston to be cited for his yellow card against Wasps.

However, Ford confirmed now expects Armitage to stay at the French club.

"I don't think it's going to happen unless high level people come to an agreement, so we'll pursue the other interests now," he said.

"There's another player we're looking at. Everyone knows him and he's been in the Premiership a while. It's not that easy when players are at other clubs."

The Aviva Premiership's injury dispensation rule allows any club to spend up to £400,000 on a player as cover should they lose a player for more than 12 months due to injury.

And despite both Bath and Armitage being keen on a deal being put together, money has proved to be stumbling block.

Armitage has two years left on his Toulon contract and a move back to England would have enabled him to challenge for inclusion in Stuart Lancaster's World Cup squad next year.

For Bath, the move will definitely be off once Armitage is cup tied, which could happen this weekend if Toulon play him as they begin their European Rugby Champions Cup campaign against Scarlets.

"The move would have been fantastic for us and fantastic for England. It did get pretty close to him coming, but it's not happened," Ford added.

"It's bit of a shame really for Steffon, Bath and England.

"Steffon was very keen on playing for his country at the World Cup and keen on playing for Bath. He thinks we're playing some good rugby.

"He thinks his style would have fit in well. Ultimately he was happy to leave the European champions to play for England at the World Cup.

"He knew he wouldn't walk into the England squad and would have to play very good rugby to do that."

Overseas-based players are currently only selected to play for England under 'exceptional circumstances', meaning Armitage's route to a recall is currently blocked.

He has considered switching allegiance to play for France, and was recently included in a provisional France squad, subject to his selection by their Sevens team for Olympic qualification.

"If anything is going to happen he can't play for Toulon in the European Cup this weekend," Ford added.

"If he does, I wouldn't pursue him. But at the moment it's not going to happen."