In his reincarnation as a drive time radio show host, Darren Gough likes to stir it up. His target last Friday was Danny Cipriani, who he accused of turning his back on his country by deciding to play his rugby in Australia.
It takes a few minutes listening to Gough's chat before concluding that you could cram the extent of his knowledge about rugby union onto the back of a fag packet and still have room for your monthly shopping list.
But the debate is valid. Has Cipriani merely confirmed perceptions that he is a self-centred egotist who has stuck two fingers up to the red rose and stropped off to the other side of the globe, or does he genuinely feel so downtrodden at his treatment by the England management that he sees no immediate way back into their plans?
I watched Cipriani live in the 2007/8 season on numerous occasions and he was on another planet to the rest of the players on the field. It is a sporting disaster that a talent on the verge of such greatness less than two years ago is now in danger of becoming rugby's answer to Freddy Adu.
We are told Cipriani spoke to Martin Johnson who wasn't overly happy with the decision, but given what we know about the player;s frosty relationship with the national coaching setup, you'd be surprised if he got more than a "Thanks Danny, shut the door on your way out, have a nice flight and, oh, bring us back some of that Vegimite would you?"
Johnson has been too harsh in his treatment of Cipriani but the player hasn't helped himself either, both in terms of his failure to recapture his best form after injury and some of his alleged behaviour whilst on Saxons duty.
Putting aside the personality clash, in pure rugby matters Johnson is a man more impressed by solid credentials than raw talent, by stoic dependability than maverick opportunism. But even in his short career as a manger so far, he should have twigged that the best sides at the highest level are able to balance the two to devastating effect.
He will also admit in private that England are full of the former and bereft of the latter, which is the real shame of this story. The player who could have done more than any other to change that has become an outcast.
The rehabilitation of Danny Cipriani would at least give Johnson the option, should he even wish to explore it, of redressing the scales.
It's a crying shame that he has put 12,000 miles between himself and the England squad to try and achieve that and it might be worth phoning Darren Gough's show to explain as much, but I fear it would go clean over his head.
Woodward's choices out of tune
If music be the food of love, Sir Clive Woodward's wife must get frequent bouts of indigestion when he has control of the car stereo.
The World Cup-winning coach was on Desert Island Discs last weekend and picked tracks by Phil Collins, Eminem, Take That and Ronan Keating in his selection.
He also hinted that a return to rugby is not out of the question. Wherever he ends up, the changing room ghetto blaster would be well hidden.
READ DANNY COYLE EXCLUSIVELY AT RUGBY.CO.UK DURING THE SIX NATIONS AND BEYOND
Date published :
23 Feb 2010 - 06:47:41
10/09/2010 07:52:40
