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Billy Vunipola has tweeted his disgust at Danny Cipriani's controversial red card

By Online Editors
Billy Vunipola (Getty Images)

Injured England Number 8 Billy Vunipola was clearly not impressed with the decision to send off Danny Cipriani in the first half of Munster and Gloucester’s European Champions Cup tie in Thomond Park this afternoon.

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Referee Alexandre Ruiz said he had no choice but to send the Gloucester playmaker from the field after his shoulder connected with the head of a Munster ball carrier in the 29th minute.

Cipriani apologised as he walked off the pitch, but the decision to send him off effectively decided the game before another ball was kicked.

Vunipola, who is currently sidelined after suffering a fractured left arm against Glasgow, underwent surgery on Tuesday and is expected to be out of action for around 12 weeks.

The 128kg backrow clearly wasn’t impressed with the decision, tweeting: “Another game ruined! Unlucky everyone who bought tickets.”

It’s capped off what was a dire week for Danny Cipriani, who was left out of England’s November Test squad by Eddie Jones.

“We’ve gone with two fly-halves. We think Owen and George are the two best fly-halves and they’ve been consistently in the team since I came in 2016,” Jones told reporters this week.

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“We think they are the two guys to lead England forward. Danny is the third choice. There are some areas of the game we think he needs to work on. He understands that and now it’s up to him.”

But there could yet be further opportunities for Cipriani, who made his first start for England since 2008 against South Africa in June.

Discussing Cipriani, James Haskell and Don Armand, Jones added: “They are guys who could come back into the mix. No door is closed.

“We’re just looking at every player and seeing what they can contribute. But we think the players we’ve got in the squad at the moment are the best players.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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