Danny Cipriani has said that he is “overwhelmed” by the messages of support that he’s received from Gloucester fans, after signing for the Cherry & Whites on Monday.
Having just received his first England call up in three years, the Wasps fly-half announced that he would be moving to Premiership rivals Gloucester next season.
Cipriani took to Twitter to thank Gloucester supporters for the warm welcome.
To @gloucesterrugby fans and all the messages! It’s overwhelming and I know I’ve made the right decision already! Thank you ?⚪
— Danny Cipriani (@DannyCipriani87) May 14, 2018
The 30-year-old turned down several offers from French sides, to sign a two year contract with the Cherry & Whites which will keep his England hopes alive and ensures he will be available for selection ahead of next year’s World Cup in Japan.
It is his first call up for England under head coach Eddie Jones, who has already warned Cipriani about his behaviour and that he wouldn’t hesitate to send the fly-half home if he were to misbehave on their Tour of South Africa next month.
Gloucester Rugby head coach Johan Ackermann said on Cipriani’s previous conduct: “He’s played a lot of rugby and has overcome a lot of things, that experience you can’t buy.
“I had a little chat with him and the reality is I couldn’t fault him as a person. We all make mistakes in life that we regret and I can just judge from what I saw on the field and to me there is no doubt about his talent. My expectation from that would be for him to fit into out team culture and our values, that team spirit that we want to create.
“He’s the kind of player that is driven to be the best and that’s exactly what we want, but we want values were everyone is humble and is looking after each other and I trust that’s the kind of thing he will buy into.”
Cipriani has only earned 14 call ups for his country, his first nearly ten years ago, his career being disrupted by a number of incidents ranging from being dropped after being pictured leaving a nightclub two days before England’s encounter against Scotland during the 2008 Six Nations; a training ground bust up with then attack coach Mike Catt in the same year and most recently in 2016 he was found guilty of drink driving.
However, the Roehampton born player has had an impressive last two seasons with Wasps, helping them get to the Premiership Final last year in which they finished runners up to Exeter Chiefs and this year he’s helped them get to the semi-finals of the same competition. They play Saracens at Allianz Park this Saturday.
Ackermann said: “It’s obvious that he is an inform 10, he’s playing some great rugby and has been playing for the past number of years and credit to him on not giving up on his dream to play for England and got the nod to get selected for them as well, so we are excited and hopefully the quality of rugby that he played for Wasps we will now see for the Cherry & White shirt.
“I think it is a great addition, he complements the style of rugby that we want to play and he can add through his experience to all the players around him, but also to Billy Burns and other players who play in the same position. He’s a guy that constantly looks to challenge himself and to evolve and that’s exactly what we want to be as a team, we don’t want to be the same team season after season. I can’t see him taking long to adopt to our style.”
He joins Gloucester’s other signings Matt Banaham and Jaco Kriel, with more signings set to be announced for the side in coming weeks.