England’s ousted fly-half Danny Cipriani says it would have taken a miracle for Eddie Jones to pick him in his 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup but he will be ready to answer any emergency call in the event of Owen Farrell or George Ford suffering a tournament-ending injury in Japan.
Despite steering England to victory over South Africa in Cape Town on his last appearance for the national team 15 months ago, Cipriani always sensed he was fighting an uphill battle and believes he never had much of a chance of making Jones’s final cut. “Going into a big competition I would have had to turn water into wine to really sway him,” said the 31-year-old, who is yet to appear at a World Cup.
“It would have been very difficult to do so. Eddie has put his faith in Ford and Faz and they have done well for him. I can completely understand why he made his decision. Do I think it was the right decision? I don’t know. I am going to support England and hope they go great.”
While Cipriani swept the board at the domestic end-of-season awards in May after a fine campaign for Gloucester, he was involved for only two full weeks of England’s lengthy summer training schedule, with Jones preferring to select only two specialist 10s. “He has backed Ford and Faz for so long and they have brought him success,” said Cipriani, speaking at the launch of the new Gallagher Premiership season at Twickenham.
“I knew I was on the back foot so I went into this summer with no expectation. The only thing I could do was enjoy it. Eddie is a very strong character and he is not going to be swayed by anyone.
“What is a fair crack of the whip? I can’t go in there demanding [game] time. It is just characters and different people. Eddie is in a high-pressure situation being England coach and he has done a great job. If I was picking the team I would have picked myself for sure but, if they could, everyone would do that.”
Cipriani – who has started only five Tests for England in a rollercoaster international career spanning 11 years – will be doing well to get another World Cup shot in 2023 but says he will not be permanently scarred by his latest omission. “You want to be with England and you want to be in Japan but is it going to change me as a person? It is not. There have been worse things happen in my life.”
It remains conceivable, even so, that Jones will need reinforcements at some stage. “He hasn’t said so directly but he has said: ‘Be ready.’ He had a big conversation in Bristol with about 10 or 12 of us. The stat is that four to six players change in every World Cup squad; that is what a smart coach would be doing.”
Another of England’s jettisoned contenders, Mike Brown, says he still considers himself to be the best full-back in the country and continues to be available for future international selection despite having been left out after a reported bust-up with his former colleague Ben Te’o during a training camp in Treviso.
Brown says now is “not the right time to go into full details” on the Te’o episode but has made clear he has “no regrets” about his own conduct. “When the details come out people will know how everyone in that situation handled themselves,” said the 34-year-old Harlequin. “It wouldn’t be right for me with the guys preparing for a World Cup to start talking about things that went on during the pre-season.
“But obviously the World Cup won’t last for ever. There will be a time where I feel comfortable and the time is right to speak about what my experiences were.”
“It’s obviously heartbreaking to miss out [on the World Cup], you want to put things right from 2015. I’ve worked hard my whole career to be involved in these big tournaments. I still feel I’m the best full-back for England. That’s not being arrogant; that’s just what I believe. But Eddie’s the main man and unfortunately it didn’t go my way this time.”