17 May 2014

Cipriani gets England recall, for now RU England

7:48 am on 17 May 2014

The mecurial Danny Cipriani's six-year England rugby union exile has come to an end after he was named in a preliminary training squad ahead of next month's tour of New Zealand.

Not since the first-five won the last of his seven caps in 2008 has Cipriani had any senior England involvement but his call-up by coach Stuart Lancaster was acknowledgement of a fine season at Sale, where he helped the north-west side to sixth-place in the Premiership.

However, Lancaster only named a 20-strong squad from the six of the 12 Premiership clubs whose season is now over.

Cipriani may yet miss out on the three-Test series in New Zealand when Lancaster names his final squad for the tour, and the warm-up match against the Barbarians, on May 26th, with the England coach set to add players from the likes of Bath, Harlequins, Leicester, Northampton and Wasps.

England training squad: Kieran Brookes (Newcastle), Freddie Burns (Gloucester, Danny Cipriani (Sale), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), Dave Ewers (Exeter), Sam Hill (Exeter), Tom Johnson (Exeter), Matt Kvesic (Gloucester), Jonny May (Gloucester), Ben Morgan (Gloucester), Michael Paterson (Sale), Chris Pennell (Worcester), Dan Robson (Gloucester), Charlie Sharples (Gloucester), Henry Slade (Exeter), Tommy Taylor (Sale), Henry Thomas (Sale), Henry Trinder (Gloucester), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Marland Yarde (London Irish).