Cipriani's the future and shouldn't have been axed

Cipriani was left writhing in pain last May with his disfigured right ankle bringing an immediate halt to a career everyone agrees will turn the 21-year-old into a superstar.

However, after tactical and technical faults were exposed by Australia two weeks ago and then ruthlessly exploited by South Africa on Saturday the youngster is facing another crisis.

Cipriani has paid the price for failing to rise above the mediocrity of England's last two performances, although he can point to failings up front, where too much ball was slowed down, and a lack of experience to lean on behind the scrum as factors in his demise.

His celebrity lifestyle alongside girlfriend Kelly Brook will be pinpointed as a factor and each time he is snapped alongside her increases the view that his career is being affected.

However, everyone who works closely with Cipriani insists his dedication to rugby remains unaffected and now he must prove that. Yes, there is a danger in throwing a young player of real talent into an arena where he could be badly exposed, however, if you don't give him that opportunity how will you discover if he's the real deal?

Martin Johnson should have shown faith in Cipriani. The fly-half is the future of English rugby and must be treated as a special case. I know that goes against Johnson's nature, but there is a bigger picture here, one that the team manager has clouded by demoting Cipriani.

If Cipriani was Australian he would still be in the starting XV, not because they have a smaller pool of talent but because they believe in "sink or swim". They do not pull you out of the pool after a couple of lengths because you appear to be struggling. Was Cipriani waving or drowning? We won't know because the lifeguard panicked. Johnson has reverted to English type, failed to back his man when support was most needed and opted for the safe option in Toby Flood.

The London Wasps No10 was so single minded during his rehabilitation he came back five weeks early and solved the first crisis in Johnson's tenure as team manager. His return came as Jonny Wilkinson, the man Cipriani was born to succeed for England, was ruled out by another serious injury.

Suddenly, Johnson, a pragmatic man by inclination, was offered the chance to build his new England team around the most exciting talent to emerge in this country for a decade. I understand Johnson had already decided to pick Flood as his starting No10 for the autumn internationals, believing that Cirpriani could not be ready for such a massive challenge over four successive Saturdays at Twickenham.

Johnson, who has also dropped Tom Rees from the XV, will feel he should have trusted his instincts because we saw against Australia and South Africa that Cipriani still has some way to travel to be the magnificent force of rugby nature that defeated Ireland last season. But having picked Cipriani, Johnson should have stuck with him for all of the autumn Tests.

Now, Cipriani will have to rely on the same people who helped him to overcome the ankle injury to ensure he doesn't suffer the same slump that stalled Mathew Tait's career after an unsuccessful debut against Wales. Tait was cast aside and it took nearly a year for him to regain his confidence.

Wasps will look to Shaun Edwards, their head coach, to work closely with the 21-year-old to build up his belief.

Wilkinson had to recover from a 76-0 thrashing by the Wallabies on the Tour to Hell in 1998 and then kicked England to World Cup glory five years later.

Cipriani's diary has the RBS Six Nations and the Lions tour to South Africa in the summer highlighted and I have no doubts he will feature strongly in both.