Catt backs Armitage
London Irish backs coach Mike Catt has backed Delon Armitage to dominate the Premiership when the new season starts.
Catt is in the ideal position to help guide Armitage back to his best after a disappointing Premiership season last year and the failure of the player to make an impression on the England team over recent matches.
Armitage has scored a total of 34 points during 15 England caps and 116 points during 57 appearances for London Irish. These are statistics that Catt says must get better and will get better once the season starts.
Armitage is one of the most exciting players to watch in English rugby at the moment. However, countries and clubs have found a way to play against him and mute his influence. He's got to re-invent himself to get the intimidation back that he possessed when he first broke into the England team.
His game
Armitage is one of the quickest players around and this is one of the main reasons why he has scored so many points. It makes him very difficult to play against and makes him a target for big defensive players in the opposition to attack.
The problem with this is that it creates the ongoing threat of injury because there will always be players looking to launch in to tackles in order to bring him down.
This is a style that many teams have adopted to try and stop him from scoring points. Teams have also been able to work out tactically where he is on the pitch most frequently. All of these things combined means that Armitage has been stopped from scoring regular high volumes of points and he has been in and out of the England team since.
Catt said: "Delon has been through a h**l of a lot; being the best thing since sliced bread for England, being injured, then coming back and losing his Test place. All of us in the game have gone through those kinds of situations but in Delon's case it has all been in a seven-month period."
Time for some re-invention
It is time for Armitage to re-invent himself so he is ready to hit the ground running when the Premiership begins at the start of September. This is how he will grab attention and get noticed by the people who have a say whether he plays for his country.
There are different ways that he can go about this but he has to add an extra string to his bow. Using the opposite attack tactics that he is familiar with would be an obvious start.
Catt added: "I am not making any excuses for him because he should have bounced back sooner. But I can tell you that he has just had a fantastic week in France with the squad for pre‑season. Delon is mature enough to take on the kind of role Peter had while enjoying himself with the ball in his hands."
Betting advice
Armitage has the ability to be a very explosive player and if London Irish are going to have a good season this year then the winger and full-back will need to play very well. Have a punt on him being top scorer at the club by the end of the season.
If he does get his England place back over the course of the season then also back him to score well at international level. He has all of the ability needed and his statistics prove this. The problem is that he needs to find a slightly new way of playing. If you don't see this early on then back off from betting on him as he may not produce the results you expect.
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