'That's a bit of a misconception': Stuart Hooper explains precisely why Bath have gambled on signing maverick Cipriani
Ambitious Bath boss Stuart Hooper has outlined why he feels Danny Cipriani will be a good fit for his squad just months after the ex-England out-half stunned the Gallagher Premiership by walking out the door at Gloucester last December.
Having openly championed the recruitment of George Skivington as their new head coach to succeed Johan Ackermann, Cipriani didn’t hang around long at Kingsholm to help his new boss. Just a month into 2020/21 Premiership season there was a ‘mutual consent’ parting of the ways and Cipriani wasn’t heard of until Bath unveiled him as their new signing on Thursday.
“It is a shock to everyone outside the inner circle if you like,” said Skivington when it emerged that Cipriani had left pre-Christmas. “We kept it in-house until Danny had decided exactly what he wanted to do. It is what it is, to be honest with you. There is no smoke or mirrors to it. There has been no incident or any fall-out or anything of that nature.”
Hooper is convinced this sudden exit was indeed by mutual consent and has every confidence Cipriani will now give everything to the Bath cause when he eventually turns up at The Rec in May having had a period of training on his own to get himself up to speed for the one-year deal that will take him through to the end of the 2021/22 season.
Cipriani hasn’t played a match since Gloucester faced Leicester 18 weeks ago on November 21, but Hooper is sure his 33-year-old Bath signing is in a good place despite the relative uniqueness of someone taking an in-season sabbatical from the game in England that wasn’t caused by injury.
TRANSFER: Look who's back! ?https://t.co/aZw7Eg501d
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“He’s good,” reported Hooper when quizzed about Cipriani’s state of mind and physical health after nearly four months without a club. “He is looking after himself, he is having an opportunity to look after his body, to rest first and foremost both mentally and physically and get himself back in a position where he is ready to compete again.
“He is training now and is away from us, he is getting himself ready to get back into the game and get himself as fit as possible. He has played for a long time and the opportunity for a break was something that he was really keen on doing.
“No it’s not (a usual kind of break) but it has got to work for you and it absolutely can be a positive thing. Some people get an enforced rest, don’t they? They will have an injury for a year or nine months. Not everyone has the opportunity to take time away from the game but Danny knows what works for him, he has got some great mentors, some great coaches working with him and his time away from the game I’m sure will refresh him and bring him to us ready to go.”
Hooper hasn’t stepped into this Bath deal lightly but is convinced he has his homework done regarding his decision for Cipriani to succeed the exiting Rhys Priestland, adding that the perception of the ex-England out-half as something of a go-it-along merchant who can’t play structured rugby is a myth he doesn’t buy into.
“For us it has been a thorough process to get to where we are with Danny and we are delighted to announce he is coming to the club. He is someone whose skillset has been evident for all to see across the different teams he has played for.
“To complement what we have got and to help develop what we have got as well, he was absolutely the right person. We have watched lots of his games and having watched him live many times and played against him and met him, he has been on the radar for a long time and we are just pleased to get it done at the right time.
“That is a bit of a misconception,” he added regarding Cipriani’s playing style. “Danny is an incredibly structured player who has got the ability to find space in a structure brilliantly well and what you see with Rhys over the last few years is he has been incredibly reliable goal-kicker but the rest of his game is pretty strong as well. The last few weeks have probably shown where that can go.
“It [signing Cipriani] doesn’t signal a sea-change in the way we play the game. It signals a signing which is part of our development and part of us getting better. Of course we want to take our game forward. We wouldn’t be signing him to go backwards so there will be developments – but it doesn’t signal a sea-change in what we do.
"Danny has never been able to change people’s perceptions of him"
– Salty assessment of the ex-Gloucester maverick #GallagherPrem https://t.co/DMROxLQQ4g
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 18, 2020
“My philosophy in how I lead this group, both staff and players, is to give them headroom to develop and to grow. I want to set an environment where everyone can be their best… it’s not about doing what you want when you want, there is absolutely a discipline and a rigour to what we do.
“Equally there is not a straitjacket. It’s not something ‘you have to do this, if you don’t do this you won’t get picked’. We don’t work like that. I don’t believe that is the answer. I can’t stand in front of a room of players like we have at Bath who have the ambition to be the best in the world both individually in their positions and as a team and put them in a tiny little box and say. ‘Do this’.
“That applies to everyone, whether it is Charlie Ewels on a lineout or Anthony Watson on a kick counter from full-back or wing. That is my philosophy and I believe the same thing for Danny, I want him to come here and be the absolute best version of himself within our team.
“He is going to be with us in May and part of that is allowing him to come in and integrate with the boys. I’m not expecting him to be ready to go straight away. The primary focus is on next season and making sure we have got everything in place to start next season well.
“It’s a unique situation signing a player from within the Premiership who is currently not at a club. Before Danny comes to us he has got to plan around getting himself fit, getting himself back ready to play Premiership rugby. We respect that, we will work with him on that and as and when the time is right he will be in the building with us.”
"Something has gone badly wrong for Danny Cipriani to go from eulogising over George Skivington’s appointment to leaving Gloucester in such a short space of time"
– @AndyGoode10 on this week's Danny Cipriani quits Gloucester drama #PremRugby
https://t.co/BuZMOJeliO— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 18, 2020
Although Cipriani is set to turn 34 next November, Hooper suggested there is room for the veteran to stay on longer than a single season at Bath and the director of rugby will be looking to his new signing to mentor younger players in the squad such as Orlando Bailey.
“You can’t go on forever but he [Cipriani] is very diligent, he looks after himself and the experience side of it was key for us, it was really important. If you look at the demographic of our squad we have brought the age down considerably over the last three years and it’s important that there is age but experience as well – and Premiership experience. There are lots of players you can sign from outside the Premiership in that position but Premiership experience at 10 was a pre-requisite.
“We have a number of younger players, specifically at 10 with Orlando, and then in other positions as well with the likes of Max Ojomoh and some back three players as well. A very big part of what we are doing is developing our own players.
“We want to develop that homegrown pool of talent and some of that is about playing and some of that is about the experience of being out in the middle in the Premiership, some of it is about understanding what it takes to be a very top-level professional.
“Whenever we bring someone into the club in a key position, 10 being one of them, I always see part of their role is a legacy effect, how can they make the people around them better? People probably dismiss it a bit but for me, it’s not about taking away from you as a performer.
“A top-level performer, say Anthony Watson for example, he gets better by helping the people around him, he gets better by helping the other young wingers, and that is what I see in Danny, the opportunity to come in and do the same with some of our young players, not just the 10s but across the backline.”
RugbyPass Offload EP 22 with Jack Nowell ?
We have Jack on the podcast! ?
Jack joins Zeebs, Christina & Jamie to discuss the crazy Six Nations weekend ?
We cover England rugby & Eddie Jones as well as our Lions XV on current form! ?
?? – https://t.co/8IoxCC8p0H pic.twitter.com/gzv1CxjLc6
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 24, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments