Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
Saint-Etienne: Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has reacted with anger after being likened to a “horny teenager” by Danny Cipriani and says there is no substance to claims he asked the former England playmaker about his sex life.
Cipriani has created a huge stir after extracts from his upcoming autobiography, Who Am I?, were published in the UK press.
The former No.10 detailed an alleged conversation over dinner with Jones in 2016 when the Australian was in charge of England.
“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,” Cipriani wrote. “The first words out of his mouth are, ‘Mate, doesn’t [TV presenter] Kirsty Gallacher live around here? … 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.”
Eddie Jones and Danny Cipriani.Credit: Getty
Jones, who is in France, initially declined to comment through a Wallabies spokesperson but did not hold back in an interview with the Daily Mail.
He labelled Cipriani’s remarks, “a complete fabrication” and said it was a preposterous claim.
“We didn’t have a close relationship, so I’m hardly going to engage in a conversation like that with him,” Jones told the Daily Mail.
“To be quite frank, it’s a complete fabrication. We didn’t select him. When players don’t get selected, they always have an axe to grind. We know that.
Former England rugby star Danny Cipriani. Credit: AP
“He’s selling a book, so nothing surprises me when players want to sell books. It’s absurd. It’s almost too absurd to talk about.
“I think it’s very sad for him that he feels he has to make something up to sell his book.”
Jones, who is preparing the Wallabies for their first World Cup match this weekend against Georgia, insisted he had no recollection of the alleged conversation.
“It’s just f—ing nonsense,” he said. “If anyone is stupid enough to pay attention to it then good luck to them.
“That’s hardly the sort of language I would use. It’s not how I speak to players. In all the years I’ve coached, there would be very few conversations like that with players.
Eddie Jones at Wallabies training in Saint-Etienne.Credit: Getty
“It’s not to say I haven’t had a conversation like that, but there would have been very few – and certainly not with Cipriani.
“I’ve learnt to keep an appropriate distance. You don’t coach for the amount of time that I’ve coached without keeping the appropriate distance.
“I get criticised for being too hard – now someone is trying to make out that I’m too familiar with the players. Work out what you want me to be.”
Cipriani , who played for the Melbourne Rebels in the Super Rugby competition in 2011, wrote a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, to address the reporting of remarks in his book, which is yet to be released.
“The reaction … has come in many forms from love, support, hate, anger, and so on,” Cipriani wrote. “Remember that the extracts are put into context through the entirety of the book. Taken out and separated create a story.
“Read as a whole, you’ll see there is nothing but love. No ill feeling toward any individual, just sharing the truth of my experience within a sport which has very rigid ‘leadership’ and the media who create narratives for a living.”
Meanwhile, England captain Owen Farrell has brushed off claims by Cipriani that he was part of a leadership “mafia” in the lead-up to the 2015 World Cup. England did not make it out of the pool stages during a home World Cup.
“I’ve seen what you’re talking about,” Farrell said at England’s base in Le Touquet. “I don’t even know what to say, to be honest. I know Danny’s got a book coming out, so hopefully that goes well for him.”
Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Every match ad-free, live and on demand in 4K UHD from September 9.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
Most Viewed in Sport
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article