England confirm Danny Cipriani and Mike Catt involved in training ground spat after coach said 'I will end your England career'

Cipriani was left out of England's Rugby World Cup squad the day after the row

Danny Cipriani and Mike Catt were involved in a training ground spat (Getty Images)

England have confirmed that a training ground row between Danny Cipriani and coach Mike Catt did take place, but insist that the dispute did not have a bearing on him missing the cut for Stuart Lancaster’s 31-man Rugby World Cup squad.

Cipriani was overlooked for the final squad as Lancaster elected to go with fly-halves Owen Farrell and George Ford, with centre Henry Slade and full-back Alex Goode providing cover if needed.

However, Cipriani’s omission was criticised by some who believed that the Sale Sharks outside half offered far more creativity than his rivals for the No 10 shirt.

But after England were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup at the pool stage following defeats to Wales and Australia, reports of a training bust-up between Cipriani and attack coach Catt emerged.

According to the Daily Mail, Catt twice told Cipriani “I will end your England career”, before being forced to apologise after the players took Cipriani’s side in the argument.

England and Sale fly-half Danny Cipriani (Getty Images)

England attack coach Mike Catt (Getty Images)

An RFU spokesman said: "Danny and Mike were involved in a robust conversation on the training pitch following a misunderstanding around a training drill instruction. Both shook hands afterwards and the incident played no bearing on selection."