‘England have to carry on with Cipriani’

EDDIE Jones has been urged by Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann to persevere with Danny Cipriani’s comeback for England despite his conviction for assault and resisting arrest.

Cipriani made his club debut in Thursday night’s pre-season friendly win against the Dragons after the Rugby Football Union’s charge of conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game was upheld without any sanction being issued.

The 30-year-old contested the complaint at a five-hour independent hearing staged in Bristol but the three-man panel decided his behaviour during the incident outside a Jersey nightclub last week justified the RFU’s intervention.

It was felt that the total fines and compensation of £4,250 and 10 hours community service imposed by the Magistrates Court and Gloucester in response for the scuffle outside a Jersey nightclub last week were already sufficient punishment.

Now Cipriani must find out if he still has a future with England given Jones stated in May that any further lapses would spell the end of his international career–- a prospect Ackermann believes is counter-productive given the belief he is the nation’s finest flyhalf.

“All you have to do is speak to Danny to see and understand the person,” Ackermann said.

“You can’t cut off your nose to spite your face by not selecting because of a mistake like that. He’s regretful of what happened and that’s not who he wants to be.

“If the coach (Jones) has a oneto-one chat with him, he’ll understand that it’s something that can happen to anybody. It’s been dealt with and now you can only judge him on how he performs.

“If he’s the in-form player over the next few weeks there’s no doubt that I would select him if I was the England coach.”