Young talks down Cipriani-Sexton clash

Editor

Wasps boss Dai Young has played down any talk of a Lions selection sideshow between Danny Cipriani and Jonathan Sexton on Saturday.

Leinster and Wasps face off at the Aviva Stadium this weekend in their Champions Cup quarter-final, with the fly-half battle set to excite.

But Young has cooled the prospect of all eyes being on Cipriani and Sexton, as he looks forward to a mouth-watering European spectacle.

“The last thing from our point of view that we’re going to turn this into is a Danny Cipriani versus Johnny Sexton competition,” he told ITV Sport ahead of the game. “I’m sure Danny will want to be playing rugby somewhere in the summer, but he’s no different from anybody else.

“Every game is a chance for people to state their Lions case, but for us it’s solely about making sure we play our game.

“All the side-plots are for after the game.”

Young added: “From our point of view, players that want to progress and play rugby in the summer, the longer we’re in competitions, the more chance they’ve got of forcing their way in.

“Danny’s one of 15 players – he’s a quality player, we all know that – but they’ve got a number of quality players too.

“In fairness to Danny, he’s really led us well this season and I don’t expect him to do any different this weekend.

“And I’d like think his full focus really is doing well for Wasps. He knows if he does well for Wasps, and Wasps do well, that can help his ambitions both on the big tour, or if you don’t get on that, obviously I’m sure he’ll want to get on the England tour to Argentina.”