Danny in the Land of the Long White Cloud

Danny for England
By Whaley Shark
June 29 2014

It's been quite a trasformation, really. In just over a year, Danny Cipriani's gone from the notorious Leeds 'bus episode' to being back on the England radar, even if only at the edges of Stuart Lancaster's display....

You could argue all day about whether Danny’s have been on the plane at all if it wasn’t for some bizarre scheduling but, if you get a chance, you’ve got to try and take it, and Danny certainly got one. In the first Test, Freddie Burns was clearly the man in possession, and was preferred for the starting slot. Danny came on just after a rather rusty All Blacks sneaked into a 15-12 lead with ten minutes to go and, although he was able to kick a penalty to tie the scores, Conrad Smith’s try, with just a couple of minutes to go, finally took the game away from England.

The late arriving Owen Farrell had finally made it to New Zealand so Danny sat out the second Test. That one also went down to the wire, with England ambushing the slow-starting All Blacks to take a 10-0 lead before New Zealand came back to a 28-13 lead after about an hour. A final, two try flurry in the last ten minutes wasn’t enough to save England, though.

Danny finally got a start in the mid-week match against a rather under-strength Crusaders in Christchurch. He made the first try after just a couple of minutes and played effectively until substituted just after half time. With Owen Farrell out of the third Test though injury, that rather suggested Stuart Lancaster had seen enough to make his mind up.

In spite of significant media pressure to give Danny a start in the third Test, England went with Freddie Burns again, presumably reflecting the fact that he is an established and settled member of the England set-up. Danny got twenty minutes at the end, but by that time, a dominant All Black performance had put them 29-13 ahead and with four tries in the bag, and effectively ended the match.

Well, that all looks to me like Danny is now England’s number three fly half. There was no ‘boys on tour’ silliness and he surely did enough to show that he’s still well able to play at international level. While Owen Farrell may be the undisputed first choice, Freddie Burns has really not had a great season with Gloucester and, with the talented 22-year old Owen Williams already established at Leicester, will have to fight hard to secure regular starts next season. So, number two is certainly realistic and, with a lot of rugby to be played over the next twelve months, he’s potentially only an injury away from the starting slot. All to play for Danny!