London Irish will be without any of the Armitage family next season following the news that full back Delon will be joining brothers Steffon and Guy at Toulon from the summer.
Delon, who has won 26 England caps has been at Irish since 2003 and has made 165 appearances for the club. He now follows his two brothers across the channel having signed a two year deal. Armitage described now as “the right time for me to move on at this stage in my rugby career”.
Throughout the speculation that Delon would be leaving the club he has received full backing from everyone at London Irish. He has received backing from the club in his move with them understanding the lure of joining his brothers and the chance to return to the area in Southern France where he and his brothers grew up.
On his leaving Armitage has been complimentary of the club where he has learnt his trade. “I would like to thank everyone involved at London Irish, in particular Toby Booth” said the full back. “My partner, Jemma, our children and I have thoroughly enjoyed the environment at the club and will go away with some fantastic memories.”
The move to France will spell, at least a temporary end to Armitage’s England prospects. He was once the next big thing for England but has had a tough few seasons, losing his England place to Ben Foden and having a number of discipline issues.
With Steffon already at Toulon and Guy announcing some time ago that he would follow it seemed inevitable that Delon would complete the trios move back to France. He becomes the latest of a number of high profile international stars at Toulon, joining Carl Hayman, Matt Giteau, Bakkies Botha and Jonny Wilkinson at the French side.