Williams still has future at Gloucester

GLOUCESTER insist Welsh international Owen Williams still has a future at Kingsholm despite the recent signing of English maverick Danny Cipriani by the Aviva Premiership club.

The arrival of playmaker Cipriani, from Wasps, could well push three-times capped Williams down to third in the No.10 pecking order at the Cherry & Whites.

And with the Dragons thought to be monitoring the situation at Kingsholm with a view to bringing the 26-year-old to Rodney Parade next season, Gloucester coach Johan Ackermann admits he sees both playing in the same side with Williams in the centre a position he filled for Wales with aplomb last autumn against Australia and New Zealand.

“Owen is a professional, he’s played Test rugby at centre,” Ackermann told the Gloucester Citizen.

“He gives us a lot of opportunities and depth in that position but also we’ve lost the likes of Matt Scott, we’ve lost the likes of Andy Symons so it’s good to know that we’ve got Owen with the ability to play at 12.

“It brings another dimension to our game so the fact that you look at Wasps at the moment playing with Jimmy Gopperth and Danny at 10-12 and how well they attack it gives us that luxury as well.

“It’s good, it’s challenging and like I said to the players, in my book once a season the door closes, a new season starts, everybody’s on the same page .

“The guy who wants to put on the jersey is the one that must show us in the pre-season and in the friendlies that he earns the jersey.

“Our squad is smaller and therefore we will want Owen to challenge at 10 but also at 12 as well.”

Ex-Gloucester and England skipper Phil Vickery believes Cipriani is a “world-class rugby player” and says the Kingsholm side will benefit from his talent.

He said: “I don’t use these words very often, but he is a world-class rugby player.

“He’s had his ups and downs, he has had his trials and tribulations.

“But the Danny Cipriani that I have seen in the last two or three years is a Danny Cipriani that I had the privilege of playing with and seeing all his skill-sets, and now seeing a maturity with that,” added the former Lions front-row forward.

“I can see Danny coming in, looking at the great nucleus of young guys coming through at Gloucester, and thinking, ‘Wow, I can leave a real Danny Cipriani legacy here’.

“I truly believe and hope he can do that. I don’t get excited that often, and I am looking forward to it. It is a great opportunity.”