Cipriani has created a huge stir after extracts from his upcoming autobiography, Who Am I?, <\/i>were published in the UK press.<\/p>\n
The former No.10 detailed an alleged conversation over dinner with Jones in 2016 when the Australian was in charge of England.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all out for dinner on day one, I\u2019m sitting at the end of the table and Eddie comes and sits next to me,\u201d Cipriani wrote. \u201cThe first words out of his mouth are, \u2018Mate, doesn\u2019t [TV presenter] Kirsty Gallacher live around here? … What\u2019s she like?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just split up with Kirsty, after a short relationship, and it\u2019s 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, \u2018Eddie, I don\u2019t want to talk about this, it\u2019s making me uncomfortable\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurprise, surprise, I\u2019m not in the squad for the summer international against Wales. He\u2019s picked a part-time No.10 ahead of me. I can\u2019t help thinking Eddie only picked me for that training camp as a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Eddie Jones and Danny Cipriani.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n He labelled Cipriani\u2019s remarks, \u201ca complete fabrication\u201d and said it was a preposterous claim.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a close relationship, so I\u2019m hardly going to engage in a conversation like that with him,\u201d Jones told the Daily Mail<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be quite frank, it\u2019s a complete fabrication. We didn\u2019t select him. When players don\u2019t get selected, they always have an axe to grind. We know that.<\/p>\n Former England rugby star Danny Cipriani. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s selling a book, so nothing surprises me when players want to sell books. It\u2019s absurd. It\u2019s almost too absurd to talk about.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s very sad for him that he feels he has to make something up to sell his book.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just f—ing nonsense,\u201d he said. \u201cIf anyone is stupid enough to pay attention to it then good luck to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s hardly the sort of language I would use. It\u2019s not how I speak to players. In all the years I\u2019ve coached, there would be very few conversations like that with players.<\/p>\n Eddie Jones at Wallabies training in Saint-Etienne.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not to say I haven\u2019t had a conversation like that, but there would have been very few \u2013 and certainly not with Cipriani.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve learnt to keep an appropriate distance. You don\u2019t coach for the amount of time that I\u2019ve coached without keeping the appropriate distance.<\/p>\n \u201cI get criticised for being too hard \u2013 now someone is trying to make out that I\u2019m too familiar with the players. Work out what you want me to be.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reaction … has come in many forms from love, support, hate, anger, and so on,\u201d Cipriani wrote. \u201cRemember that the extracts are put into context through the entirety of the book. Taken out and separated create a story.<\/p>\n \u201cRead as a whole, you\u2019ll 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 \u2018leadership\u2019 and the media who create narratives for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, England captain Owen Farrell has brushed off claims by Cipriani that he was part of a leadership \u201cmafia\u201d in the lead-up to the 2015 World Cup. England did not make it out of the pool stages during a home World Cup.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d Farrell said at England\u2019s base in Le Touquet. \u201cI don\u2019t even know what to say, to be honest. I know Danny\u2019s got a book coming out, so hopefully that goes well for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch all the action from <\/b>Rugby World Cup 2023<\/b> on the Home of Rugby, <\/b>Stan Sport<\/b>. Every match ad-free, live and on demand in 4K UHD from September 9.<\/b><\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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