Armitage set to stay at Toulon

Steffon Armitage's proposed move to Bath from Toulon looks to be off after he was named in the French side's squad for their opening European Champions Cup match.

By playing against Scarlets on Sunday, Armitage would become cup-tied and Bath's interest in the move would end.

Bath had targeted Armitage as cover following a back-row injury crisis under Premiership rules which allow a club to spend £400,000 on a like-for-like replacement for any player ruled out for 12 weeks or more.

Toulon have now said that they would have allowed Armitage to join Bath on a loan deal if the Rugby Football Union (RFU) had guaranteed that he would play at next year's World Cup.

"I was clear with Steffon and said, 'If you want to play in the World Cup and if the condition is that you must play in England, I am ready, along with the president, to release you for six months'," Toulon head coach Bernard Laporte said.

"But he must be guaranteed to play at the World Cup. And there is none (guarantee)."

Earlier this week, head coach Mike Ford admitted the move was unlikely to happen due to the two parties failing to agree on a financial package and the Premiership club will now focus their attentions elsewhere.

"It's a dead deal," Ford told BBC Radio Five Live yesterday.

"Like I said earlier in the week we tried our best to get him, but we just failed to across the line and couldn't agree the finances with Toulon.

"Steffon plays for Toulon this weekend and it's a dead deal."

The proposed move would have had benefits for both parties. Bath would have gained the services of one of Europe's top players and Armitage would have been able to push for an England recall.

Currently, England do not pick players who ply their trade outside of England unless there are 'exceptional circumstances'.

Their policy means that Armitage has little chance of making Stuart Lancaster's 2015 World Cup squad and he has already considered the possibility of playing for France.

While Toulon host the Scarlets on Sunday, Bath travel north to play Glasgow Warriors in their opening Champions Cup fixture.