Bath playmaker Danny Cipriani has opened up about an incident playing with Owen Farrell that famously went viral a few years back.
Discussing his experience of playing with Farrell during the 2018 tour of South Africa for his Mail Online column, Cipriani revealed his thoughts on a incident that went viral at the time.
“There’s been a lot of talk about what happened back then — as if I was frozen out by Owen when we played together. That’s not how it felt to me.
“There was a big reaction after that last Test because when I hit a cross-kick to set up Jonny May’s try, Owen’s reaction wasn’t positive. But in the heat of the moment, I didn’t witness that, I only saw it on replays afterwards.”
Cipriani added “He came up to me when we got on the bus at the stadium to say Andy Goode had made a comment about it on social media and highlighted it. He just said he’d only reacted like that because he’d thought the kick had gone too long.
“He was trying to make out it was all fine and I just took his word for it. That’s all I could do. When you look at it, it does look a bit — well, put it this way, I wouldn’t do that to another player.
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“But I don’t think he openly went into that situation trying to be disruptive towards me.”
Former England fullback Mike Brown also discussed this situation recently in his column.
“If there’s a power struggle on the pitch then you’ve got a problem,” wrote Brown in his column for the Mail Online.
“I saw it first hand with Owen and Danny Cipriani on the 2018 tour of South Africa.
“Danny was playing fly-half but Owen was still trying to make the calls from 12 and play it his way. You can see his body language towards Danny on the TV footage. It just didn’t work.
Cipriani picks his bold England XV
BACK-THREE:
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers) – “Everybody at Leicester has been raving about Steward for a while and I would like to think England are as excited at his exceptional attacking potential as well as his towering presence under the high ball, for which he is best known.”
14. Max Malins (Saracens)
Cipriani said: “I’ve gone for Malins on the left wing because most teams have right-footed kickers, so he can work on the pendulum with Steward, who should start at full back.”
11. Adam Radwan (Newcastle Falcons)
Cipriani said: “Radwan on the other wing, but you need to give him licence. He’s that type of explosive athlete who can do something from nothing. I think Radwan will explode into the international game”
CENTRE:
13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
Cipriani said: “Henry has started the season on fire too, though. Farrell can play at 12 but is he going to overshadow Marcus? It has to be clear Marcus is running the show as the 10.”
12. Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks)
