THE CHANCE to play with several fellow England youngsters proved to good to turn down for Guy Armitage after he agreed to move to Wasps ahead of the 2016/17 season.
The 24-year-old will make the step up from the Championship with London Welsh to the Ricoh Arena at the start of next season.
Known to many as the younger brother of Delon and Steffon Armitage, Guy has been making a name for himself in the Championship where he has scored 12 tries in 25 appearances for London Welsh this campaign.
Armitage has also represented England at every age-group and competed in the 2011 Junior World Championships in Italy.
“It’s great to be joining a very talented group of players and coaching staff at Wasps,” said Armitage.
“I’ll be meeting up with quite a few of my England age group squad – Elliot (Daly), Christian (Wade), Dan (Robson), Sam (Jones) and Joe (Launchbury) – so it will be nice to have some familiar faces.
“Dai Young shows great confidence in his squad and you can see the players have bought into his plan and excelled.
“For sure, it’s an exciting new challenge for me and I feel I am ready. I would like to thank London Welsh for the opportunity they have given me to get so much game time.
“I’ve really enjoyed playing with a fine group and will be wishing them all the best for next season.”
At the start of his rugby career, Armitage earned a scholarship to Wellington College, before joining the London Irish Academy. He made his debut against Sale Sharks in 2010, becoming the third Armitage brother to play for the Exiles and went on to make 43 appearances for the club.
The talented centre, who stands 6ft 5 inches tall and weighs in at over 17 and a half stone, also enjoyed spells with London Welsh, London Scottish and Toulon, before returning to London Irish and then London Welsh again.
Wasps’ Director of Rugby Dai Young added: “Guy has been one of the stand-out performers in the Championship this season and I’ve been impressed not only by his try-scoring ability, but also his physicality in attack and defence.
“Watching some of Guy’s games, you can see he has a real hunger to get involved and is able to create chances as well as finish them.
“We look forward to Guy providing another strong option in our talented backline, as we look to increase strength in depth across the squad.”
