Team mates don't want Cipriani
Melbourne – Former England flyhalf Danny Cipriani was voted off the Melbourne Rebels squad for the next two Vodacom Super Rugby games in South Africa by his team-mates, local media reported on Monday.
The 23-year-old was “stood down” for last Friday’s home loss to the Reds after breaking a team curfew the previous week in Sydney after defeat by the Waratahs.
Rebels chief executive Ross Oakley said that Cipriani’s team-mates had decided they did not want him on the plane, putting his Melbourne future in doubt.
“The playing group and management have lost confidence in Danny after the latest in a series of off-field breaches of the team’s behavioural standards,” Oakley said.
Scrumhalf Richard Kingi, also dropped for the Reds match for the same breach of discipline, returned to the squad for the matches in South Africa against the Bulls and Cheetahs.
Cipriani left England for Australia to escape the publicity and tabloid headlines his growing celebrity lifestyle had generated.
But the Melbourne club’s first major signing for their inaugural season wasted little time in making more headlines and incurring the wrath of management after a nightclub prank in February.
He was fined a match fee after being thrown out of a nightclub for swiping a bottle of vodka from behind the bar without paying.
“To put the decision in context, Danny also chose to stay out late again after the incident in Sydney and did not attend training the following day,” added Oakley.
“Management is addressing these issues with Danny and we support the decision not to allow him to join the tour to South Africa.”
Revelations his team-mates have turned on him so quickly will do little to help Cipriani’s hopes of playing for Melbourne next year and all but end any lingering hopes he had of forcing his way back into the England squad for this year’s World Cup.
(Sport24)
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