He was once part of a midfield trio with Owen Farrell and George Ford and is one of four rugby-playing brothers.
But Toulouse Olympique’s Guy Armitage is now very much his own man. The strong-running centre, 30, plays in the historic first French Super League derby next week when the newcomers visit Catalans. He couldn’t have envisaged that 10 years ago when he last moved to the south of France to join Toulon’s star-studded rugby union team.
Armitage trained with legends Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Giteau and Joe van Niekerk as well as his older brothers - England stars Steffon and Delon Armitage - after agreeing a three-year deal. But he never played a single game and headed home to London Irish less than six months later. Having already represented an England Under 20s side littered with future global stars like Farrell, Ford, Elliot Daly and Mako Vunipola, Armitage also had spells with Wasps and London Welsh.
But he opted to try league with London Broncos in 2019 and linked up with Toulouse last year, helping them earn promotion. He said: "I’d never had opportunity to play league before. But it came about at the right time - and I’m loving it.”
And things are certainly going better than his last stint in France.
“I was only 20,” recalled London-born Armitage.
“It was really exciting but I did feel homesick and it was a bit too early for me. But this time around I’ve moved over with my wife and feel a lot more comfortable in myself. We lived in France for a bit when I was a child so I’m fluent in French. And Steffon’s at Biarritz now which is about two and a half hours away so I’ve seen him a bit.”
England captain Farrell and fly-half Ford were both, of course, raised in rugby league. Wiganer Farrell was his centre partner for that England Under 20s side with Oldham-born Ford at 10.
“I didn’t realise but the Northern accents were probably the give away!” he joked.
“But looking back now, playing deep at the line and balls out the back, you could see their league influences. I just thought it was how they played. But now I see how league played a huge part in how they went about things.”
Armitage is not bitter that he didn’t scale similar heights as his illustrious peers. He admitted: “I could have maybe but with the odd thing here and there - injuries, contracts - it’s just rugby isn’t it? It’s not smooth sailing for everyone. But I love rugby and I’m still going. We’ve had a tough start with Toulouse but we believe in ourselves.
“We’ve definitely got what it takes to stay up. Beating champions St Helens was great. And it’s going to be massive against Catalans.”
