Daily Mirror

CIPRIANI IS LEFT OUT OF THE PICTURE

- BIG CALL

FROM BACK PAGE

Roses’ last Test – and being Premiershi­p Player of the Month. England boss Eddie Jones stopped short of ending Cipriani’s World Cup hopes, but Twickenham moved swiftly to shift the focus away from the popular maverick.

An image of Cipriani, 30, promoting England’s new kit on the outer wall of the stadium was changed to feature only players in the 36-man squad.

Jones said: “It comes down to a judgement. Some people think he played well, well maybe I don’t think he plays that well. We’re all entitled to judgement and, at the moment, my judgement is the most important one.

“And my judgement is that he’s the third choice in our hierarchy of positions – though everyone remains a World Cup possible.”

Jones said he would not try to talk Joe Marler out of retirement, despite the injury crisis in the prop’s position.

Asked if he had spoken to Nathan Hughes since his Twitter-inflicted ban, Jones quipped: “I tried to tweet him but I couldn’t get through.”

Instead, he recalled Ben Morgan, whose last start came in the 2015 World Cup.

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