The maverick fly-half could still earn an England World Cup spot if he can help his club to a semi-final victory at Saracens
As he stood clutching his latest prestigious prize, up on the brightly lit stage at the Premiership Rugby Awards in London this week, Danny Cipriani was asked about the “trials and tribulations” he has overcome. Quick as a flash – “Trials and tribulations?” – he had the entire room laughing knowingly with him. Say what you like about Cipriani but his ascent from a Jersey prison cell back to rugby’s sunlit uplands has been this season’s most colourful tale.
A failure because he cannot make the England squad? It recalls the vintage line delivered to a partying George Best in the 1970s – “Tell me, George, where did it all go wrong?” – by a room-service waiter entering his Park Lane suite. Even the most talented and successful of athletes can be pigeon-holed purely on the basis of reputation and few onlookers have ever associated Cipriani with dull conformity or monastic abstinence.
Written by Robert Kitson
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/24/danny-cipriani-gloucester-saracens-owen-farrell-england-premiership under the title “Danny Cipriani aims to keep climbing and lead Gloucester into final”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
