When it comes to England rugby players over the last decade or so, few have split opinion like Danny Cipriani.
The flyhalf was a maverick both on and off the pitch, something that did his career more harm than good. He was clearly a very talented player, one that could have had a long and successful test career had things gone differently for him.
However, his attitude was something that successive England head coaches did not want to deal with. He went a decade without starting a game at international level, despite being perhaps the most in-form no. 10 in the club game at various stretches over that point.
His off the field antics also didn't help in that regard, with the tabloids often filled with details of his life away from the pitch. As it turns out, this was something that was once raised in camp by one of his England head coaches.
Cipriani recalls uncomfortable questions from England coach Eddie Jones
Eddie Jones did not use Danny Cipriani often during his time with England, although he did have some dealings with him while in charge.
Having left him out of the squad for the his first Six Nations in charge in 2016 at a time when the flyhalf was flying at club level, he would call him up for a training camp later that summer. It was here that the Australian asked questions about the player's personal life that made him rather uncomfortable.
In his new autobiography, which is being serialised in The Times, Cipriani compared Jones to a 'horny teenager' after he asked questions about the player's recent relationship with television presenter Kirsty Gallacher.
It’s May 2016, a few months later, and Eddie’s picked me for a three-day training camp at Pennyhill Park. We’re all out for dinner on day one, I’m sitting at the end of the table and Eddie comes and sits next to me.
The first words out of his mouth are, “Mate, doesn’t Kirsty Gallacher live around here? Haven’t you shagged her? What’s she like?”
I’ve just split up with Kirsty, after a short relationship, and it’s not something I want to talk to my head coach about, or anyone else for that matter. Eddie keeps pecking, like a horny teenager, and in the end I tell him straight, “Eddie, I don’t want to talk about this, it’s making me uncomfortable.”
Surprise, surprise, I’m not in the squad for the summer international against Wales. He’s picked a part-time No 10 ahead of me. I can’t help thinking Eddie only picked me for that training camp as a joke.
You can read the extract in full here, which is scathing in its description of Jones as a coach.
Cipriani would go on tour with England in South Africa in the summer of 2018, although he was unable to force his way back into the squad on a consistent basis.
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