Danny Cipriani named Premiership player of the month for September despite missing out on England squad

Eddie Jones left the fly-half out of his squad last week despite his strong start to life at Gloucester

Danny Cipriani has been named Premiership player of the month for September (Pinnacle Photo Agency for Gallagher)

Danny Cipriani has been named the Gallagher Premiership player of the month, despite his form not being enough to earn himself a place in Eddie Jones’ England squad.

The 30-year-old has been rewarded for his form throughout the first month of the season, with the fly-half proving instrumental in guiding Gloucester to victory over Northampton Saints and Bristol Bears as well as the 31-31 draw with Bath.

Recent defeats against Saracens and Harlequins has not prevented Cipriani from being acknowledged for his individual efforts, having caught the eye with pin-point assists for Charlie Sharples and Matt Banahan over the course of the opening two weekends of the season.

And his head coach, Johan Ackermann, believes it is reward for the way he has settled in at Kingsholm since joining from Wasps in the summer.

“Credit to Danny, when he joined us there was a lot of pressure on him from changing clubs and everything, but he has slotted in really well both on the field and off the field,” Ackermann said.

“On the field it was quite evident that we could see his skill from the first training session. He has got a big belief in his ability in how we can play and he is not shy to try things. I think that suits us, we want to give players that freedom and he has slotted in really well on that.

“It fits quite well because we want our teams to be dominant, we want our teams to be involved between us and the players that want a lot of interaction.”

Despite his form over the start of the season, Cipriani dropped out of the England squad, missing a three-day training camp in Bristol last week. At the time of announcing the 36 players that made up his squad, head coach Jones explained that Cipriani was not playing well enough to oust either George Ford or Owen Farrell in the fly-half pecking order, despite starting England’s most recent Test in the victory over South Africa in the summer.

“We’ve decided just to have two stand-offs in the squad for this particular camp because we want them to get a lot of training time, and Danny’s probably third or fourth choice, and he knows what he’s got to work on,” Jones said last month.

Danny Cipriani led Gloucester to victory over Northampton on his debut (Getty)

“He understands and knows what areas of the game he needs to work on.

“It’s a different circumstance. We’re selecting a squad now for September, so I’m looking at who we need now and what we need for this particular time and at the moment we’ve got Owen and George who I believe are the first two fly-halves, and then comes Danny and Danny’s got some areas of the game he needs to work on, he knows what he’s got to work on and the opportunity is there for him in the next three games to show that.

“[He’s] disappointed but he understands. He’s desperate to play for England, which is terrific.”

Jones left Cipriani out of his latest England squad (PA)

Cipriani was voted as September’s winner ahead of Exeter Chiefs pair Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade by a panel of nine members of the rugby media, along with a public vote through the Premiership Rugby app that attracted 1,200 voted.

He was presented with the trophy by Dave Balmer, stadium manager at Kingsholm, who this season is one of 24 Gallagher Community Heroes that have been nominated by the Premiership clubs as individuals who demonstrate their rugby family and embody the values and spirit of rugby. Along with the trophy, Cipriani was also awarded 25 tickets to a future Gloucester match than can be gifted to a local club, school or community group.