Danny Cipriani to join Wasps: Club confirm England fly-half will 'go home' after choosing to leave Sale Sharks
Cipriani has agreed a deal to return to Wasps six years after leaving the club
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Your support makes all the difference.If Wasps are already good enough to put 60-odd points past Saracens on the Premiership champions’ artificial pitch in north London, as they proved last weekend, think how heavily they might score with a certain celebrity midfielder from one of the leafier parts of the capital among their number. Danny Cipriani, the 28-year-old playmaker blessed with an attacking talent the size of his profile, will be back in a black shirt next season – a signing that may signal a decisive change at the top end of the English club game.
Cipriani has been hankering after this move for a good while: when David Young took over the rugby director’s role at Wasps in 2011, he quickly became aware of the Roehampton-born outside-half’s strong interest in rejoining the club that gave him his break as a professional and provided him with a pathway into the England team. But Wasps were deep in financial strife back then and in no position to offer big money to big-name players.
Their situation is very different now. By upping sticks and moving to the Ricoh Arena on the outskirts of Coventry – correction: by purchasing the place lock, stock and barrel – the former European title holders bought themselves the right to roll the dice at the swankiest tables in the rugby casino rather than feed loose change into the union version of a one-armed bandit.
Just 17 when he made his senior Wasps debut against Bristol in a 2004 cup match, Cipriani left the club for a shot at Super Rugby in Australia seven years later.
By that time he had electrified the Premiership with his broken-field running, made his Test debut under Brian Ashton (one of the few coaches he ever truly respected), suffered a career-threatening injury and repeatedly found ways of featuring at the wrong end of the morning newspapers – that is to say, on the front pages rather then back.
By the time he returned to England in 2012, he was a lost soul, but over the course of three and a half seasons with Sale, he has re-established himself as a player of considerable artistry. The northern club may be one of the poorest top-flight teams in terms of spending power, but they are rich in attitude. With Cipriani bringing some class and refinement to the mix at No 10, they have achieved mid-table positions twice in succession and are well in the hunt for a play-off place this time round.
“I’m excited – it really does feel like I’ll be going home,” Cipriani commented. “In the professional era, players naturally change clubs more frequently than they once did, but I still feel such a strong connection with Wasps. It’s where I learned my trade and I have such good memories of that period of my life. There’s something about the place that draws you in. ‘Once a Wasp, always a Wasp’ is more than just a saying when you’ve been a part of the club.”
The move makes sense: Wasps will lose the highly promising Alex Lozowski to Saracens at the end of term and need an attack-minded No 10 to orchestrate their high-tempo game. This development does not guarantee Cipriani another chance at international level – his narrow failure to make the England cut for last year’s World Cup may have marked the end of that particular road – but it is perfectly possible to see him laying hands on some important silverware before he calls it a day.
Elsewhere in the English top flight, Exeter have taken the Australian Test wing Lachlan Turner to Sandy Park on a two-and-a-half-year deal. The 28-year-old Sydneysider, considered to be one of the quickest Wallabies of recent times, has 15 caps to his name, as well as rich Super Rugby experience with both the New South Wales Waratahs and the Queensland Reds. He moves to the West Country after a brief spell in France with Toulon.
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