CIPRIANI IS GIVEN WORLD CUP BOOT
Jones ditches Danny for Italy training camp
DANNY CIPRIANI is doomed to miss out on selection for the World Cup, after he was left out of the England squad yesterday for a ‘heat camp’ in Italy.
Head coach Eddie Jones picked 38 players for the 12-day trip to Treviso, which will focus on training at intensity in high temperatures, to acclimatise to conditions they are expected to face in Japan this autumn.
Cipriani was not included and it is understood that the 31- year- old Gloucester fly-half has not received any explanation for his omission.
Having won the RPA and Premiership Player of the Year awards at the end of his first season for Gloucester, the prodigious playmaker earned a recall from Jones following nearly a year in Test exile. However, he did not take part in last week’s training sessions in Bristol and now he has been overlooked again, unlike Bath pair Sam Underhill and Anthony Watson, who also missed the Bristol camp to undertake fitness work, but have been taken to Treviso.
The official line is that squad rotation will continue until the final 31 for the World Cup is announced on August 12 — the day after England face Wales at Twickenham and several weeks before the official deadline. Yet, in the case of Cipriani, it appears the writing is on the wall.
There was always a sense that Jones brought him back into the fold for contingency planning, on the basis that he would need another No 10 up to speed with team game- plans, calls and culture, in the dreaded event of Owen Farrell or George Ford suffering a serious injury.
It had long appeared incredibly unlikely that Cipriani could force his way into the chosen 31 — and that impression has now been strongly reinforced.
For all his brilliance at club level, he remains third choice, at best, for his country. He is a man feted by public and pundits, but not so highly regarded or trusted by the England management team.
When the squad was named yesterday, prior to their flight from Gatwick to the north east of Italy, Jones said: ‘Selection is absolutely challenging. We have left some good players doing work at their clubs and they must be ready if called up.’
In theory, the door is not fully closed on Cipriani, but in reality it is now.
When they return from Treviso, England will reconvene on August 6, ready to fine-tune for the clash with Wales at Twickenham on August 11. For World Cup wannabes, that is the last audition. The squad is named the next day.
If Cipriani is not involved in training over the days ahead, he cannot expect to be involved on that summer Sunday, which in turn means he cannot hope to make the decisive cut. Sources have indicated that there is no chance of him being chosen for the tournament, at least from the outset.
Instead, he will have to stay motivated and hopeful, commit himself to Gloucester’s pre- season campaign with gusto and await news of an unexpected playmaker vacancy.
It is unlikely. If Farrell and Ford stay fit, the door will not re-open and one of the country’s pre- eminent rugby talents of the modern era is destined to remain unfulfilled.
His last act as an England player was to set up a match- winning try against South Africa in Cape Town 13 months ago.
But Cipriani has not been seen at international level since — and it appears likely that he will never reach those exalted heights again.