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'I would have had to turn water into wine to really sway Eddie Jones'

By Liam Heagney
Danny Cipriani looks on during England training in July before he was cut by Eddie Jones (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Don’t ask Danny Cipriani about World Cup disappointment. Rather than feel doom and gloom that he ultimately wasn’t in Eddie Jones’ plans for the World Cup despite an initial brief dalliance in early July, he now views his England omission as a blessing in disguise, a rare opportunity to enjoy what he hasn’t had in years  – a lengthy, refreshing off-season that has left him champing at the bit for the 2019/20 club season. 

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Cipriani speaks from experience. Set to turn 32 in November, he has been around the block for quite a while and the seemingly ever-increasing demands have taken their toll on a player who sounded grateful for Johan Ackermann’s arm-around-the-shoulder approach to his welfare once it became clear that the playmaker’s country wouldn’t be calling him for a Japanese tour of duty in the coming weeks. 

Rather than feel cut up about a national team he had only ever won 16 caps for since a 2008 debut, he quick-footed it to America for some very welcome rest and recuperation following a stellar club season where he bagged a pile of individual awards, so exceptional were his efforts as the Gloucester talisman. 

Now back in the comforting surroundings of Kingsholm, the flourishing impact his summer had was clear to see at Wednesday’s Gallagher Premiership new-season launch in London. Whereas answers in the past could easily be guarded and cliched on topics such as national squad omission, Cipriani was in a reflective, philosophical mood in a conversation that refreshingly was never stilted.

Did he feel hard done by over not making Japan 2019? Not in the slightest. “What is a fair crack of the whip? I can’t go in there demanding any time,” he shrugged. “It’s just characters and it’s just different people. Eddie is in a high-pressure situation being England coach and he has done a great job.

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“He has put his faith in George Ford and Owen Farrell and they have done well for him. Going into a big competition I would have had to turn water into wine to really sway him. It would have been very difficult to do so. I can completely understand why he made his decision. Do I think it was the right decision? I don’t know. I’m going to support England and hope they do great,” he offered, diluting the outside noise that surrounded his exclusion. 

“Eddie Jones picks the team so it is a lot of people clutching at straws to try and create a problem before a big competition. Eddie is a very strong character and he is not going to be swayed by anyone. I never went into the England camps with any expectation.

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“Going into a big competition he has backed Ford and Farrell for so long and they have brought him success. I knew I was on the back foot to try and do that so I went into it with no expectation. The only thing that I could do was enjoy it.”

He did, despite being cut loose. “Years ago going on an army camp would probably have been something I would have hated but my mindset was that I can only control my response. Our team ended up winning the trials and for me, that was the personal growth within it. You want to be with England, you want to be in Japan, but is it going to change me as a person? It is not. I’ve had the most amazing five or six weeks away (in California) and I wouldn’t change that.”

Adversity has been a regular companion throughout Cipriani’s career ever since he first gained notice at Wasps in 2006. However, don’t build him up into some sort of role model for regularly getting back off the canvas and carrying on. “Role model is a strong term,” he deflected. “In terms of someone that isn’t always going to have his way or have knocks in life, ups and downs, everyone has that. There are not too many people that have the golden ticket in life.

“I was here (at Twickenham) a couple of weeks ago and was talking to Doddie Weir. Something someone said to me was about how from a place of being uncomfortable, from a place of discomfort, greatness can come. Look at Doddie’s situation [the former Scottish international is battling motor neurone disease]. I don’t know if I would be as good a man in his situation because you don’t know until you are there, until you feel the discomfort, until you feel the pain. 

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“So when you do, that is what creates someone to go and be great and get better and if they are not it might take more time for them to do so. If that is me being a role model in my way, in my discomfort which is not getting picked for a rugby team and going again, that is what I have to do,” he suggested, playing down his connections with England. 

“I have not really played much for England, to be honest,” he shrugged, going on to react dismissively to the fact that he was capped in June 2018? “I played in South Africa, did I?”

Not that this ambivalent attitude is trivialising the disappointment felt by others who didn’t make the England World Cup cut. Less than an hour earlier in the same south-west London room Mike Brown had worn his heart on his sleeve over losing out on selection for Japan.  

“You look at someone like Mike Brown, who is consistently playing at the top of his game. He didn’t get picked in autumn or maybe before that and he ended up having his best season with Quins last year. That is a credit to him because I know how much it means to him and how much emphasis he places on playing for England. So for him to turn around and have the best season, that is a credit to him. I’m proud of him for that.”

Enough of the national question, though. What about Cipriani’s insinuation that players are not given enough time to recharge and come back as good as new for the new club season? “For sure, off-seasons are way too short. There is so much I could go into but it probably wouldn’t be very PC to do so,” he suggested. 

“Gradually over the last 15 years training length has gradually got longer and longer every single session and it takes its toll. Over the season that is an extra 40 hours on your feet if it is an extra hour every week. I don’t know the answer. I’m unbelievably grateful for Johan for giving me extra time off to be able to refresh myself mentally and be able to come back reinvigorated and excited because this year we have got a lot of good youngsters at Gloucester. 

“My last seven, eight years, I have really tried hard to work with youngsters and hopefully have a good influence on them in terms of their play. That is a big challenge for me, to try and be as present as I can. That was probably the difficulty for me, putting everything into a season the last four years, the last seven years, and then you have only got four, five weeks off again. By the time I have had any dinner I’m already a week in.”

Veteran status sounds like it is suiting the 30-something Cipriani, although he refuses to tempt fate about his Premiership player of the year award being an indication that he could enjoy a fabulous Jonny Wilkinson-like conclusion to his career. 

“I know he won the World Cup in ’03, but Jonny was playing his best rugby (later on). I don’t know if I will be playing rugby as long as that. I’m going to give it my best this season and assess every year. I have had a lot of internal growth, a lot of things. I have had to learn a lot over the last 20 years things come up at different points in my life. I had to teach myself to be a man from 10 years old and I didn’t do a great job at certain times, but who would? 

“I was always searching for answers or guidance. But then eventually you do know the answers and you just need to listen within and focus on it. I’m grateful people like Shaun (Edwards), all these people in my life who have helped shape me and my focus is can I be a good example for younger kids, how can I do that? 

“Yeah, I have made mistakes. Yeah, my mistakes were probably a bit more public than others. But do I keep trying to move forward? Do I keep trying to learn? Yeah, I do. Does it mean I’m not going to make any more mistakes? I will try and not to.”

Cipriani’s final word was on his old pal Christian Wade, someone equally blessed with a spark to captivate an audience. Whereas rugby is still handsomely paying Cipriani’s bills, his former Wasps team-mate embarked on a great cross-sport adventure in 2019 in American football, making the Buffalo Bills’ training squad. 

Impressed? You bet. “For me, he is the best winger I have ever played with, one of the best in the world for his all-round game. He wasn’t getting the recognition – not necessarily that he deserved recognition because no-one deserves anything – but he wasn’t doing what he wanted in a sport and his ability is so extraordinary he can go and play NFL.

“You can understand his frustration… to see him go and do what he is doing now I’m super-proud of him for making the effort, for taking the leap, for taking a pay-cut for what it is now and hopefully the rewards will come.”

WATCH: The trailer for the new RugbyPass documentary on Tonga ahead of their September 22 World Cup opener against Eddie Jones’ England 

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Jon 1 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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j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 8 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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