Gloucester have accused the Rugby Football Union of a witch-hunt against Danny Cipriani, whose England future is in serious doubt after the governing body charged the fly-half following his conviction for common assault and resisting arrest.
In a considerable U-turn from the RFU, Cipriani was on Friday charged with “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game” and will learn his fate next week. He faces a possible fine and a potential ban which would put any hopes of hanging on to his England place in grave danger.
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After Cipriani was on Thursday fined £2,000 following an incident at a nightclub in Jersey, RFU insiders said the union was not planning to take any disciplinary action and would let Gloucester’s own investigation run its course before deciding whether to act. While it is believed Gloucester intend to fine rather than ban their marquee summer signing, their investigation will not be completed until early next week but the RFU has decided to act regardless and charge Cipriani.
“There is no historic precedent of a player being singled out in this manner, and we feel this disciplinary process has been influenced by the significant media coverage of this week’s events and other external factors and not based on the actual facts of the matter,” said the Gloucester chief executive, Stephen Vaughan. “We are surprised and extremely disappointed to have recently received notification of disciplinary action against Danny Cipriani by the RFU. Yesterday afternoon I received a personal assurance from the RFU that no disciplinary discussions would take place until we had completed our own conversations as stated in our club release.”
The RFU has since insisted no such assurances were given and it is understood the union’s change of heart came about because it felt Cipriani had a case to answer in light of his two convictions. Gloucester, however, firmly disagree. “In summary, we do not agree with the RFU’s decision to embark upon a disciplinary process before we have concluded our own internal discussions and fail to understand the reasons for this approach,” added Vaughan. “We do not believe that this decision and the subsequent unnecessary public attention that will now follow it is in the best interests of either the RFU, the club, the player nor the game in general.”
Cipriani’s hearing will take place next week on a day to be confirmed but with only three Gloucester matches before Eddie Jones names his next squad on 20 September, a suspension of any great length will seriously harm his hopes of being involved, even if he is England’s incumbent fly-half, having made his first start in 10 years against South Africa in June. Jones, who is currently on a coaching trip in Japan, will still have the final say on selection if Cipriani is available.
After Thursday’s court hearing was concluded Gloucester offered their full support to Cipriani despite promising a “robust and balanced” disciplinary process, while the 30-year-old issued a “heartfelt apology” later that day. He was left out of the Gloucester side to face Ulster in a friendly on Saturday but it is understood that was always likely to be the case, following his involvement in South Africa.
There is little precedent for incidents similar to Cipriani’s. While Manu Tuilagi was banned from the 2015 World Cup after he was convicted of assaulting two police officers and a taxi driver, that was Stuart Lancaster’s decision rather than the RFU invoking rule 5.12 which governs “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game”. The RFU’s head of discipline, David Barnes, said: “We have high standards that we expect across the game, in line with rugby’s core values, from all those involved within it. I have this afternoon taken the decision to charge Danny Cipriani.”