Cipriani opens up on his personal heartache
LET’S start by clearing up what happened at Gloucester. Before Danny Cipriani discussed England and Eddie Jones, dull rugby and future plans, he explained his sudden departure from Kingsholm last month.
After one appearance this season, the West Country club announced that their marquee playmaker was leaving with immediate effect.
As is always the case with the high-profile 33-year-old, there was a torrent of speculation about the likely cause, with a widespread assumption of trouble behind the scenes.
The fact that Gloucester had installed a new coaching staff of Cipriani’s former Wasps team-mates, headed by George Skivington, added to suspicions that something had gone badly, rapidly awry. Plenty of people have had their say on the matter, so it is time for the man in the middle to set the record straight.
‘It was the accumulation of the World Cup (not being picked) and everything that happened in terms of the personal experiences I went through last year,’ Cipriani told Sportsmail, in his first interview for several months. ‘I came to the
As the male, you try to pick your partner up after losing a baby but you don’t realise the effect it has on you
conclusion that I should take some time out, to have some thinking space, get fit and take a step back from the game.
‘As I was the highest-paid player at Gloucester, it became an opportunity. It kind of helped them in the end. George and I have such a good relationship. I’ve known him since I was seven years old. We went to the same school.
‘He’s a good man and he’s going to be great at Gloucester.
‘Obviously they are sitting in 12th so it doesn’t look great at the moment, but he’s got a big future.’
Cipriani has hinted before on social media about a difficult time in 2020 — beyond the Covid disruption which everyone was enduring. He struggled to cope with the sudden death of Caroline Flack and was then forced to deal with further emotional trauma when his partner Victoria suffered a miscarriage.
‘It was a challenging year,’ he said. ‘I was grieving for my friend and we had a week off, so I went to LA, then Covid hit. I couldn’t get back and I was there for three months. It’s obviously a beautiful place to be but I hadn’t been there for three months before and I was going through that (grieving).
‘I think grieving happens in different stages. Mine was very intense. At different times, it comes and goes. There are moments when you remember that person. You have to remember the happy times and I don’t think that ever disappears.
‘During that period, when the season was stopped, we also lost a baby. I think, as the male, I had a delayed on-set of grief about that. You try to pick your partner up and you don’t realise at the time the effect it has on you.
‘We went through that process together and we are really strong now. We’re in a really good position to start trying again and we’re happy about that.’
In the build-up to the season resumption last August, Cipriani returned to training and worked hard to ensure he was ready physically and mentally — but he didn’t feel right to play again. The penny dropped one Monday night in September, at Kingsholm, in a match against Harlequins.
‘I had the sort of game I hadn’t had before,’ he said of an erratic, distracted performance. ‘All the reports were saying: “This is why Danny didn’t get picked for England”. I had one game where I didn’t play like me because there were things on my mind and that was the response.
‘That’s when George and I started having conversations about what to do. I decided that I needed some time out. No fans in the stadium, all that stuff — I just felt it was a good time for a break.’
In an attempt to demonstrate his loyalty to Skivington, Cipriani committed to the short preseason at Gloucester before the current campaign began, but an opening weekend loss to Leicester convinced him that his gut instinct had been right and it made sense to leave.
He was heartened by the largely supportive opinions of the club’s fans, who were sorry to see him go, but dismayed by the response from certain pundits.
‘I’ve got no regrets about my decision whatsoever,’ he said. ‘It was just funny reading the articles by some ex-players who wanted to have their say. I’ve been able to ignore that sort of stuff in the past, but there are times when it gets to you. We are trying to promote the game here. What do I bring to the game that is different from other 10s? Let’s promote that. Let’s not detract from it by saying: “Oh, but he could be trouble”.
‘I couldn’t be more of a model student in a training camp. Everyone I’ve come across knows that. When I was in camp with England I was: “Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir”. I did everything. I trained well. I don’t understand what I can say about this character thing. It still comes back to people saying: “He’s trouble”. It feels like I’m going up against a whole regime by speaking the truth.’
Cipriani’s friend and England team-mate Mike Brown offered a sympathetic verdict on a ‘brilliant’ creative talent, who he argued had been unfairly treated.
Brown noted how ‘key players never fully brought him in’ during Cipriani’s last active involvement with the national team, during England’s 2018 tour of South Africa.
The final match of that series against the Springboks saw Eddie Jones’ side end an alarming, five-Test losing streak with a win in Cape Town, as Cipriani conjured a decisive try for Jonny May with a shrewd cross-kick.
Replays showed England captain Owen Farrell reacting with exasperation when he thought the kick had been over-hit — and the footage was soon appearing on social media to highlight a perceived division within the creative hub of the reshuffled side.
‘I’ve not even watched that game back,’ said Cipriani, who denied any tension at the time. ‘All I’ve seen is that kick, when I hit it and he (Farrell) seemed to be frustrated. I remember getting on the team bus afterwards and he said: “Andy Goode has just tweeted something about that but just so you know, it wasn’t because of anything you did”.
‘He was trying to make out it was all fine. I just took his word for it. That’s all I could do. But when you look at it, it does look a bit — well, I wouldn’t do it to another player.’
A recurring issue for Cipriani and those who have championed his claims for Test recognition over the years is the sense that he has been the victim of perceptions and didn’t fit the preferred mould. It hit him hard when he was named
RPA Player of the Year in May 2019, but didn’t come close to making the final cut for the World Cup a few months later.
It hit him hard that he was omitted the previous November, too, having signed for Gloucester to remain available.
Maybe one day the angst will fade, but for now it still bubbles just beneath the surface, because the quest to represent his country meant so much to Cipriani and the constant acclaim from public and pundits raised hopes that it might happen far more often than it did.
Lately, he has been watching matches to keep an eye on any tactical trends in the game, but echoed the view of so many observers when he said: ‘Rugby’s a bit dull at the moment. It has become a war of attrition and territory. The people at the top of the game in this country, that’s what they’re good at and it drip-feeds down.
‘That’s how Eddie wants to play
It still comes back to people saying: ‘He’s trouble’. It feels like I’m going up against a whole regime
I’ve seen that clip when he (Farrell) seemed frustrated. I wouldn’t do that to another player
the game. He wants to have a massive kick battle and they’re better off without the ball — that’s what they are saying in the England camp.
‘The difference is that I would ask questions as to why we were doing that. I’m not going to ask in a rude way but because I’m asking questions, that makes me difficult, does it? Maybe the right thing to do is just keep your head down and do what the coach says.
‘With the pack they have and the talent they have behind it, England could be playing a completely different brand of rugby and still be winning games.
‘They could be bringing new fans to the game, too, but at the moment I’m not sure how any new fans to rugby are going to enjoy it.’
In due course, Cipriani is interested in the concept of putting his vision for the game to good use by becoming a consultant
— someone who can go into clubs or national set-ups and offer an alternative take on strategy and technical details. He sees it as making a virtue of something which has been held against him as a player — having a desire to challenge accepted thinking.
But that can wait. In the short term, his plan is to play on after a break this season. Just discussing the game again serves to reignite his passion and interest. His preference would be to join another Premiership club or take up an offer in France, having turned down several in the past.
‘We have had some interesting offers from abroad and there are a few things bubbling here,’ he said. ‘I’m going to spend four or five months on the running track and I’m doing kicking with Jonny Wilkinson. He’s a great man and I love being around him.
‘For me, it’s about being part of an exciting project and challenging for a title. English rugby is not ruled out. It’s not necessarily a monetary thing and it never has been. For me to play in England, it’s about having a project to get involved in and getting on well with the coach.
‘I’d love another shot at getting to the play-offs and trying to win the Premiership title.
‘If I’m going to keep playing, I want to do it properly. It’s just about getting something exciting. I’ve definitely got two or three years left in me.’
For rugby fans south of the border, the prospect of Cipriani arranging a last hurrah in the Premiership is certainly exciting.
He may not have fitted the England mould and he may have been unfairly dismissed as trouble all too often, but his sorcery has also been hugely admired.
And when crowds are allowed to return, he is just the man to richly entertain them.