Rugby World Cup 2015: Nick Abendanon the answer for England, says Clermont Auvergne teammate Brock James

Brock James, one of the exiled Australian players still out of the World Cup running despite the Wallabies’ change of heart on selecting from abroad, has thrown his weight behind the decision back home and expressed surprise at England’s reluctance to do something similar.

The Clermont Auvergne outside-half, who goes after a first European title against the defending champions Toulon at Twickenham on Saturday, believes his colleague Nick Abendanon might provide an attacking answer or two for the hosts at this autumn’s global tournament.

“I think it’s a smart thing to do from the Australian point of view,” he said yesterday, commenting on last week’s move to open the door to foreign-based players who have won 60 or more caps and spent at least seven years in top-level rugby Down Under – criteria that are met by two outstanding backs currently playing for Toulon, the wing Drew Mitchell and the playmaking midfielder Matt Giteau, both of whom may now face England in a highly significant World Cup pool match on 3 October.

“A lot of Wallabies will be joining clubs in Europe after that tournament,” he continued, “so it’s a good idea to leave the door open for them ahead of the next one in 2019 as well as pull in someone like Giteau for the competition coming up. He’s still one of the very best in the sport in his position.”

James, uncapped and therefore ineligible for Wallaby selection even under the new system, has spent this season playing in the same unit as Abendanon, a very occasional England full-back who joined the French club from Bath a little under a year ago.

Abendanon’s form in Europe has propelled him into the same bracket as the Toulon flanker Steffon Armitage: critics of England’s current selection policy, under which players may be picked from overseas only in “exceptional circumstances”, are pushing ever more vociferously for both men to be drafted into the red-rose training squad, due to be announced next month by Stuart Lancaster.

“Judging by his form since he came to us, I’m surprised Nick hasn’t been in the England mix more often,” James said. “He’s been one of the top two or three performers in every match he’s played at Clermont, bringing something different to our attacking game.”

Asked whether the last remaining nations following a home-only policy – England and New Zealand – could continue bucking the trend indefinitely, he replied: “In terms of having your best people playing Test rugby, what Australia have just done shows the way things are going.”

Tournament administrators are predicting a crowd of around 50,000 at Twickenham for the northern hemisphere’s showpiece occasion at Saturday tea-time: miles short of a sell-out, disappointingly, but very much in line with previous all-French finals staged in Britain and Ireland. There were 51,000-plus in Edinburgh for the Toulouse-Stade Français final in 2005 and just over 50,000 for the Toulon-Clermont match in Dublin two years ago.

“Two French teams contesting a final in London is a promoter’s nightmare, I guess, but we know we’ll have great support at Twickenham,” commented James, who plays his home games in front of the most passionate supporters in European union. “We may not have 40,000 of them in the ground this weekend, but there’ll be something there for us to draw on.”