Cipriani’s ‘former life has gone’

Editor

Sale Sharks boss Steve Diamond praised Danny Cipriani after another eye-catching turn from the fly-half in the win over Newcastle.

Sale Sharks boss Steve Diamond praised Danny Cipriani after another eye-catching turn from the fly-half in the win over Newcastle.

The 27-year-old played a key role in Sale’s match-winning try from Jonny Leota to wrap up the result at Kingston Park.

Backing his number ten to challenge England incumbent George Ford in the future, Diamond was delighted.

“He’s really settled in with our team ethic. His former life has gone,” said Diamond.

“He can see things other players can’t and if he keeps doing that he will be right on George Ford’s coat-tails.

“We knew Newcastle would be tough, but we kept the pressure on with the drive and then using our two centres and Danny showed a bit of brilliance to crack the game open.”

Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards highlighted an ongoing trend for his side with conceding tries after being turned over.

“It was another try conceded when turned over possession. That’s happened a lot this season,” said Richards.

“It’s disappointing that we didn’t make better use of the huge amount of possession we had in the last 20 minutes.

“We played reasonably well but it was just our final execution that let us down. I can’t fault the boys for effort and their second try was an absolute killer.”