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Piers Morgan weighs in on Cipriani debate

By Josh Raisey
Cipriani during the England training session held at Pennyhill Park

After being named both the Premiership Player of the Season and the RPA Players’ Player of the Season, there is a lot of talk surrounding Danny Cipriani and his return to the England fold.

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Cipriani has been excluded from the England squad all season, despite his demonstrable good form. What makes this more bizarre is that he played for England in 2018 in the summer series against South Africa, where many thought he proved himself worthy of keeping hold of the number 10 shirt after guiding England to victory in the third test.

This is something that has been discussed by players, fans and pundits alike, and now broadcaster and columnist Piers Morgan has thrown his hat into the ring. He has never been afraid to share his opinion on any topic, but this is one where many England fans will agree with him.

Morgan said on Twitter that “mavericks win matches & tournaments”, and told Eddie Jones to stop being “stubborn”.

An off-field incident happened between the summer series and the new season, which did not cover the fly-half in glory, but Jones has been reluctant to say that is why he has not been picked. He has preferred to say that it is an issue of performances and form.

Morgan is just one of many that are demanding Jones pick Cipriani for the World Cup, as his form is no longer an excuse that the Australian can fall back on. However, many feel that this will fall on deaf ears, as it has all year.

The Good Morning Britain presenter has long been an advocate for some of English sport’s pariahs. He used to campaign for a similarly divisive figure Kevin Pietersen to return to the England Cricket set up, as he was another player whose talents could not be disputed but may have created a personality clash.

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With Jones set to name the England squad to face the Barbarians next weekend, many feel that this is now or never for Cipriani. He would obviously not have another chance to prove himself to earn a place in the squad for the World Cup warm-up matches, and that would be the end of his dream of representing England again, certainly under Jones.

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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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