Danny Cipriani: When and where he will retire
Danny Cipriani has revealed he will finish his playing career at Gloucester after signing a new three-year deal and paid tribute to the work head coach Johan Ackermann has achieved since arriving from South Africa.
Cipriani ended speculation linking him with another move in a career that has seen his exceptional talent constantly ignored by England by opting for a new Gloucester contract despite claims he could have opted out of the West Country club.
The influence of Ackermann, whose Gloucester side cemented third place in the Premiership with a 27-23 win over arch-rivals Bath, is one of the key reasons for Cipriani’s decision and he said: “The plan is after these three years to retire. We will see how that pans out and I will be 34 at the end of that season and it is has been a long stint and I have my best years ahead of me.
“There were a lot of key decisions to be made and negotiations and like Brexit it could have been done in January!
“The team’s performances underpin the way that Johan speaks because it is not just about rugby. It is also about growing and developing men and his message is about inspiring. He tells us stories about things he has heard and we are grateful to be able to do what we do, whether the boys understand the mentality or not it slowly penetrates minds.
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“Some people buy into it straight away and with others it takes time and over the course of last two seasons you can see the way this team plays for each other and it’s pretty outstanding. You are often a reflection of your head coach and I have learnt that in rugby. The way Johan he is can be seen on field with the skill, attacking, execution and shape that is down to the coaches. The coaches and players bring the attacking shape and we are all rooting for each other at the moment. This is a very unselfish team.”
"Cipriani… Almost disinterested!" ?
"I'm not looking, and neither are you!"
Danny Cipriani with the no-look, 360 assist? ?
Sounds about right… That is outrageous! pic.twitter.com/7YOqftsJq5
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 13, 2019
Cipriani, who has a groin injury, delivered a wonder “no look” pass to put prop Josh Hohneck in for a crucial first try after Gloucester fought back from 17-0 down and revealed he had pulled off the same sleight of hand to take Wales and Lions centre Jamie Roberts out of the play a few years ago. Roberts fell for the move again and Cipriani said: “I saw Jamie Roberts was opposite Josh and did something similar to him three years ago and I wanted to see if he had learnt!
“It (groin) was touch and go and I didn’t train all week but I am not some kind of hero – it just happens – and I couldn’t run all week but then it settled down and I was able to run at around 60-70 percent.
“We have experienced guys in this team who have a lot of fight in them and they proved that. Willie Heinz is one of the best captains I have worked under and is very calm because we know that at any moment we can strike. It is going to be very tough playing against Exeter or Saracens and we are not in the play-offs yet and if you look at what they have built over the last decade and they are outstanding at what they do.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments