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Cipriani statement: 'My last games in England are fast arriving'
Danny Cipriani has confirmed he will finish up at Bath at the end of the current season and embark on a different rugby experience outside England. The 34-year-old was signed by the Gallagher Premiership club in March 2021, three months after he parted company with Gloucester.
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His existing deal at The Rec is set to expire at the end of June and despite rumours that he might stay for another year and perhaps take on the added responsibility as a rookie kicking coach, an idea that Stuart Hooper didn’t dismiss when asked this week, the ex-England international has now taken to social media to confirm his stay at Bath is nearing the end.
Cipriani has made 14 appearances so far this season, just eight as a starter. But ahead of this Saturday’s trip to West Country rivals Gloucester, a game that the out-half will start against his old club, he admitted on Instagram that he will soon be leaving England for a fresh taste of life elsewhere.
“My last couple games in England are fast arriving!!! I’ve decided to move on to experience a new country and make great memories with my Family… Timing is key, play too early and the defence can read it.
“Play too late and you’ll never get the pass away. You’ve got to feel it then react accordingly! Over the years I’ve accrued some amazing loyal supporters. I’m grateful. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you…”
There was no indication from Cipriani where he is heading but being involved in rugby abroad won’t be new to him as he spent two Super Rugby season with the Melbourne Rebels a decade ago. It was Thursday morning, when asked by RugbyPass, that Bath director of rugby Hooper had reflected on the half-back’s year at the club.
“He definitely would have wanted to play more rugby. Injury and illness have prevented that from happening but with regard to what he has managed to show and deliver for Orlando (Bailey) and these other young players at our club, it has been outstanding. As much as he would have liked to have played more and we would have liked to have won more, that side of it I can’t argue with it at all. It has been fantastic.”
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Hooper intimated at the time that no decision has yet been taken regarding the future of Cipriani at Bath, but it emerged a few hours later that they had signed Piers Francis, the out-half/midfielder, from Northampton for next season.
“It’s all in the mix (player/coach), it’s all in the melting pot as it ever is with players who are coming towards the latter end of their career and making sure that the path is right for them and for the club,” said Hooper about the Bath discussions with Cipriani. “He is somebody we are talking to at the moment and we will make those decisions in the next couple of weeks when we don’t have games and can talk about it when we can. ”
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
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