A montage on the wall of the Gloucester team room at their Hartpury training base is centred around the acronym B.R.A.V.E. As the club’s fly-half Danny Cipriani ponders his latest omission from an England squad before a confrontation on Sunday at Allianz Park with Saracens and Owen Farrell, one of the players preferred to him, he can reflect on what the letter B stands for: belong.
The 30-year-old has spent most of his international career as an outside-half on the outside. He has started only one match for England since 2008, the final Test against South Africa this summer when he helped secure victory with a typically sublime moment of skill, an act that a number of former internationals assumed would cement his place in the squad. But Cipriani will not be at England’s training camp in Bristol this coming week.
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Eddie Jones will be in Bristol, preparing for the camp, rather than at Saracens for a contest between two of the three unbeaten teams in the Premiership after the first three rounds. Unusually for England’s head coach, his replies were opaque when he was asked why he had left out Cipriani.
The Australian cited club form as a factor but Cipriani’s range of passing and ability to scent openings have been vital in Gloucester’s two victories and a draw in the first three Premiership rounds. Jones also said that limited time in training meant it would be unproductive to have more than two fly-halves, but he has chosen three scrum-halves; and that there was no legacy from the South Africa tour – but the two tighthead props who played in the Tests there have been preferred to the experienced Dan Cole.
“I have told Danny what he needs to work on and that conversation will remain private,” said Jones before supplying a clue as to why George Ford and Farrell were contesting the No 10 jersey. “I watch three club games a weekend. There are things you do not see on television.”
Jones was referring to the contribution of players throughout the 80 minutes rather than one brilliant and conspicuous moment, such as Cipriani’s pass to Charlie Sharples on the opening weekend against Northampton and his kick for Jonny May in Cape Town in June that ensured a run of five successive defeats ended.
Cipriani is not competing with Farrell for a place in the squad. Jones’s Plan A is to have Ford at 10 and Farrell at 12. Plan B sees Farrell move to 10 with a more muscular presence outside him, such as Ben Te’o or the fit again Manu Tuilagi. The choice is between Ford, virtually a fixture in the side since Jones’s arrival, or Cipriani.
Both thrive on quick ball but, while Ford likes to be constantly involved, Cipriani prefers to time his interventions, sometimes not touching the ball for a number of phases, materialising when the gainline has been breached: rugby’s Mesut Özil. Jones judges players not on a moment, such as that under-pressure kick for May in Cape Town, but on overall contribution to a match.
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“England are fortunate to have three outside-halves of such quality,” says the Gloucester head coach, Johan Ackermann, whose club does not have a player in Jones’s 36-strong squad. “Danny is still learning the way we want to play and knowing what he can do excites me. You want to have him in a team because of his ability as well as his passion for the game and commitment. He is a team man who has bought into our values and culture.”
Ackermann is a close friend of England’s new defence coach, John Mitchell, after their time together with the Lions in South Africa. For all Mitchell’s reputation as a disciplinarian, his New Zealand side in the 2003 World Cup had a maverick at fly-half, Carlos Spencer. Before they met Australia in the semi-final Jones, then the Wallabies’ head coach, predicted Spencer would crack under pressure, which he did when throwing a pass that was intercepted by Stirling Mortlock and converted into a try. Mitchell’s response was that he did not want a machine at fly-half.
Cipriani yearns to play in a World Cup and probably has one chance left. It is his desire that keeps the dream alive, even if the dream is currently in intensive care. At his first media conference after taking charge of England, Jones said he expected players to be desperate to play for their country and he picked Cipriani in the summer after the player turned down a payday in France to remain in the Premiership and in contention.
His last game for Wasps was at Saracens last May in the play‑offs. The home side won 57-33, having scored 62 points against Gloucester the week before. “It will be a measure of how far we have come since then,” says Ackermann. “We let ourselves down that day and there will be no excuses this time. It will be a great test and we have to make sure we get good ball to allow Danny to flourish.”