The Mighty BATH Strikes Back

The Guardian wrote:There is something about Bath and New Year's Day that brings out the worst in Delon Armitage. Twelve months ago, after London Irish had lost in the last minute at home to the west country side, the England full-back was abusive towards a drug-testing official after the game and was later served with the first of his four bans in 2011.

The final one came after the October meeting with Bath in Reading, a day on which Armitage was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle. He was subsequently cited for two offences and received a five-week suspension. In his first league match back, against Exeter last week, he was penalised for a high tackle, though not disciplined, but he sat out the last 10 minutes of Irish's biggest Premiership defeat since May 2006 after seeing yellow again against Bath. Armitage's challenge on Michael Claassens was late, not high, and cynical rather than dangerous. It is unlikely to merit a citing but his recent disciplinary problems – he was banned during the World Cup for a dangerous tackle – make his retention in the England squad next week increasingly unlikely.

It is not as if he is in form compared with his rivals; he followed up a knock-on against Bath by allowing a high ball to bounce as he disputed responsibility with Steven Shingler, and his subsequent scuffed clearance kick travelled a few metres and was collected by Dave Attwood, who was too shocked to make profitable use of the present.