Even in the darkest days of his rugby career – and there have been a few – Danny Cipriani has never been far from the news. He has been described as England's second most famous rugby player. Or should that be derided as such? Because when it comes to his fame the rugby bit has fallen way down the list of reasons to be interested in him.
But, for some time now, there have been signs of a change. There hasn't been any girlfriend news for at least three months, no nightclub indiscretions, no collisions with a bus. And here's the thing – his rugby has been improving steadily. Maybe it's all related.
"This season has been about getting my confidence back on the field," Cipriani said on Saturday, having orchestrated a fine win for Sale over his former club Wasps, "and I feel like I've got it now. I've worked really hard on my fitness, and it's paying off. I've improved my diet, worked on my timekeeping and feel as if I'm producing the consistent performances people want from me. I'm in a good place, and hopefully it's showing."
He was not supposed to have had such an influence over the game on Saturday. Sale decided to start him on the bench for this one, but when Nick MacLeod was forced off in the seventh minute after a collision with Joe Simpson – for which the Wasps scrum-half was sent to the sin bin – Cipriani was thrown on. His first act was to land the penalty from roughly 50 yards, and so began his latest headline-grabbing performance, this one for all the right reasons.
"Danny is doing really well," said his director of rugby, Steve Diamond. "We know he's an emotional lad, and we thought we would rest him. He always wants to prove a point coming down here. Danny's had 19 starts for us, which shows he's been doing this week in, week out. I'm sick of people asking the question [about his consistency], to be honest."
Diamond is the sort of no-nonsense, celebrity-girlfriend-less former hooker well qualified to wrap a protective arm round a wayward talent like Cipriani. His influence would appear to be having a positive effect, although his attempt to prevent Cipriani talking to the press afterwards was taking the protective thing a step too far, especially when the press, for once, actually wanted to talk about rugby. Apparently, Sale are miffed by all the England speculation. When finally collared, Cipriani did confirmthat he and Stuart Lancaster have been in touch. Cipriani's plan is to maintain his form and target a place on the summer tour to New Zealand.
If he is playing well enough to make it, Sale will almost certainly have secured themselves a top-six finish, possibly even a place in the play-offs. Wasps, however, have surely blown any chances of qualifying for whatever passes for elite European competition next season, now being eight points adrift of the Sharks.
"We're still in the fight for that sixth spot," said Dai Young, "but realistically we need a few results to go our way now. In fairness to Sale, they deserve it. They'done the double over us now, so who are we to say we should be sixth and they shouldn't? In the two games we played them they've been better than us."
Young was honest about his team's shortcomings. Despite falling 10-0 behind while Simpson was serving his early spell in the sin bin, Wasps fought their way back to be leading 17-10 with half an hour remaining. That was the cue for Sale to bring on some heavy artillery up front, and the visitors dominated the rest of the match. A wicked show-and-go by Cipriani set up Johnny Leota for a try, before the man of the moment slotted two penalties in the final quarter.
The headline-writers were drooling. The back-page ones, that is, not the front — and certainly not the gossip. Long may it continue.
Wasps T Bell; Helu, Masi, C Bell (capt), Bassett; Carlisle (Goode 58), Simpson; Mullan (McIntyre 65), Lindsay, Cooper-Woolley (Swainston 56), Cannon, Myall (Palmer 56), Johnson, Haskell, Jones (Hughes 56)
Try Simpson Pens Carlisle 4 Sin bin Simpson 7
Sale Arscott; Brady, Leota, Jennings (Tuitupou 47), Cueto; MacLeod (Cipriani 7), Cliff; Harrison (Lewis-Roberts 47), Taylor (Jones 47), Thomas (Cobilas 47), Ostrikov (Mills 47), Paterson, Braid (capt), Seymour, Gaskell (Easter 75)
Tries Braid, Leota Con Cipriani Pens Cipriani 3
Referee Dean Richards Att 5,502
