Edwards: Wasps fans must be scratching their heads

WALES defence coach Shaun Edwards believes Wasps got it wrong in allowing Danny Cipriani to leave for a second time.

The maverick fly-half joined Gloucester in the summer and has helped fire the Cherry and Whites to third in the Premiership.

Edwards was a Wasps coach during the early years of Cipriani’s career. He left the club in 2011 when Dai Young took control as director of rugby.

“You don’t get recruitment right all the time and everyone makes mistakes, but how could Wasps let Danny Cipriani leave?” said Edwards, who won four Premiership titles and two Heineken Cups during his 10 years at Wasps.

“If you’re going to coach at an elite level and win championships you have to have championship players. Often, they’re a little bit different. Jonny Sexton, ultra-competitive person, demands the best of everybody. Probably sometimes he’s a bit hard to be around in the build up to a game.

“You have to be able to handle those players. For me, the Wasps people have to be scratching their heads as to why Danny Cipriani was allowed to leave.

“Any pivot, first receiver, you have to be bossy, you have to be a pain in the backside at times because you’re the quarterback, you can’t have a shrinking violet as a quarterback and Danny isn’t that.

“As he has got older he has got even better at running the show. He was famed for his speed – he’s still quick, but now it’s his control of a game which is excellent. Wasps fans must be scratching their heads thinking why was he allowed to leave?”