Cipriani exits in a hurry
DANNY CIPRIANI left Gloucester last night with immediate effect – with the club insisting there had been no bust-up.
The mercurial fly-half, who will be replaced by Scotland No.10 Adam Hastings, said he went with “mixed emotions”.
Any suggestion he was forced out was denied by Kingsholm chief executive Lance Bradley. “There wasn’t a massive falling-out, it’s not acrimonious,” he said.
”It’s more that both of us realised it wasn’t working and we’d be better off trying something else.”
The timing is strange, coming four games into the season and with Hastings not arriving from Glasgow for another nine months.
Cipriani had hailed coach George Skivington’s appointment in June, adding: “I’m very grateful I’ll get to play out my last years under him.”
The 33-year-old inspired Gloucester to a first play-off appearance in eight years and was voted Player of the Year. He was badly hit by the suicide of his former girlfriend Caroline Flack in February, but has since found happiness with his marriage to Victoria.
“A lot’s happened in Danny’s personal life,” said Bradley. “Some fantastic, some not so fantastic. All those things add up and this is where we’ve ended up.”