James Haskell and Danny Cipriani have forgone financial gain to keep alive their hopes of appearing at the World Cup next year. Moves to Northampton and Gloucester respectively were confirmed yesterday with both players opting against potentially lucrative moves abroad to stay in the Premiership and remain eligible for England.
Wasps announced towards the start of the year that they would be releasing the pair, who both came through their academy, but as recently as last month the 33-year-old Haskell still had no firm offers from within the Premiership.
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Haskell had insisted he was willing to take a pay-cut to remain available to England and, while he was among the 20 players listed as unavailable when Eddie Jones named his squad to tour South Africa last week, he has been presented with an international lifeline by Northampton’s incoming director of rugby, Chris Boyd, who has handed him a one-year deal.
“It’s no secret that I want to continue my international career for as long as possible,” Haskell said. “The only way I can do that is by putting my best foot forward in club rugby and helping Saints fight their way back into contention for silverware.”
Cipriani, meanwhile, has joined Gloucester just four days after he was named in Jones’s England squad for the first time. The 30-year-old is believed to have been delaying a decision as he awaited news of a potential recall by England last week, 10 years after his last start and three since his last cap. Unlike Haskell, Cipriani will have the carrot of Champions Cup rugby with Gloucester who qualified by virtue of their Challenge Cup final defeat last Friday.
“Having spoken in depth with David Humphreys and Johan Ackermann, the future they have planned for the club is enticing and one that I very much want to be part of,” Cipriani said. “It’s the most exciting move of my career to date.”
Bath have pulled off a considerable coup in appointing Girvan Dempsey as their new attack coach. Dempsey joins from this season’s Champions Cup winners Leinster after 23 years as a player and coach. Having worked with the academy and as elite player development officer before graduating to backs coach, he has been integral in the rise of players such as James Ryan, Jordan Larmour and Garry Ringrose.
Bath endured a difficult season despite creeping into the Champions Cup by climbing to sixth in the Premiership on the final day of the season and the director of rugby, Todd Blackadder, who lost his right-hand man in September when Tabai Matson returned to New Zealand for family reasons, acknowledged the need to freshen up his side’s attack.
“This season we’ve learnt a lot about ourselves,” he said. “We need to be more flexible in our game so that we can better tailor our attack to different opposition. Girvan is a fantastic addition to our team and I believe together we can go on to great things, not only next season but for years to come.”
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Cipriani is among the five players shortlisted for the Premiership’s player of the year award. He is joined by Newcastle’s Niki Goneva, Sale’s Faf de Klerk as well as Don Armand and Jamie Gibson – two England back-row hopefuls both overlooked by Jones last week.
Henry Trinder has been handed the chance to stake a claim for a first England appearance in four years after he was added to the training squad for this week’s camp in Brighton.
Trinder, 29, comes into camp along with Marland Yarde after injuries to Sale’s Cameron Redpath (knee) and London Irish’s Ben Loader (ankle) and will look to catch the eye before Eddie Jones on Monday names his squad to face the Barbarians on 27 May.