EDDIE RIGHT TO SLAM CIPRIANI

EDDIE JONES’S most recent appraisal of Danny Cipriani (right) contained one very telling remark — and it wasn’t about his rugby. ‘If I was going to that tribunal, I would have ironed my jeans,’ Jones said, commenting on Cipriani’s shabby-chic attire before the RFU. He should have added a note of gratitude to Gloucester, Cipriani’s club, for encouraging that sartorial statement. By indulging Cipriani’s belief that he was unfairly charged, Gloucester ensured no lesson was learned. Cipriani’s dress was the equivalent of two fingers when some contrition and sobriety was called for. Jones, from a different generation and tasked with getting the best from a gifted but problematic character, was right to be unimpressed.