Six-month plan for driven Danny Cipriani
Gloucester fly-half Danny Cipriani wants to continue to grow as a player in 2019 as he hopes to push himself into England‘s Rugby World Cup squad.
Cipriani, who has not been in an Eddie Jones squad since June of last year against South Africa, has been impressing with the Cherry and Whites.
Jones has instead gone for Owen Farrell, George Ford and Alex Lozowski as his fly-half options, with Cipriani back on the outside of the group.
He told Sky Sports on the Will Greenwood Podcast his mindset after being left out: “Not necessarily disappointment, you just then look within: ‘How do I get better and keep growing?’
“It’s down to you to go and implement that in the game-plan of what you’re doing and to show that desire and will of how much you want to play for your country.
“It’s so easy to point the finger in any situation in life with whatever’s happening, like for me over the last couple of years, but the realisation I’ve come to is that it’s constantly about personal growth, understanding your moments and your responsibilities. Making sure you don’t keep repeating the same lessons.”
Cipriani was involved in an assault on a pre-season trip to Jersey with Gloucester, which unfortunately soured what had been a positive year. He has not featured in an England squad since that incident and while Jones said his absence was due to form, Cipriani felt Jersey did not help his case.
“That’s what was frustrating for me in the summer and the incident in Jersey, something which at the time was deemed to be minor but then ended up getting into something which was a much bigger escalation,” he added.
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“Fair play to Gloucester, they dealt with it in an unbelievable manner, but it’s just not a true representation of who I am and my philosophies. That was probably the most disappointing thing, but that then gives you another challenge of going to earn the trust back and do all that, and I’ve done that as best I can so far at Gloucester.
“It’s hard to put into words, but I fully understand what he [Jones] wants me to do when I go out there. It’s that type of thing where I leave it with me and Eddie and I’ve just got to do the best I can.
“For me it wasn’t a setback because I’ve never taken any position for England for granted because obviously I’ve been in and out for so long.”
He added: “I’ve got no idea [if the Jersey incident played a role in his England omission], you can only go on what Eddie said, he’s a very straight talking character, and said it was about form.
“So you’ve got to ask: ‘How can you keep making that impression in the game? How can you get better?’ And there’s lots of ways I can and that’s something I’m very inspired to do over these next six months.”