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Wasps blast Ashton as he axes Cipriani
Chris Jones6 Mar 2008
Brian Ashton's decision to sensationally drop Danny Cipriani from Saturday's Six Nations match with Scotland after the player was photographed out in London in the early hours of this morning has been slammed by Wasps.
The club are furious their man will miss out on his first England start after head coach Ashton axed the 20-year-old, replacing him with Iain Balshaw at full-back.
A distraught Cipriani was "warned and advised about his future conduct" for what was termed by the RFU as "inappropriate behaviour" and told not to travel to Edinburgh.
Cipriani claimed he had been dropping off tickets for the Murrayfield clash to a friend when he was photographed outside the Mayfair nightspot 50 Dover Street at 12.30am.
Ashton was furious Cipriani broke the players' self-imposed rules after they were allowed to leave their Bath training base yesterday.
But Wasps insist the head coach has over-reacted and director of rugby Ian McGeechan said: "We are hugely disappointed with the decision to withdraw Danny from the England team, and similarly disappointed for Danny himself. Danny did not stay inside the nightclub for any length of time and he was not drinking.
"He was at worst naive in his actions, but no more than that. Given the circumstances, a measured response to his actions was required and I think this is a very harsh decision."
In a further show of support for their man, Wasps have added Cipriani to their squad for the Premiership game at home to Harlequins on Sunday.
Ashton, however, insisted he had done the right thing and said: "I've taken the decision regarding Danny and the matter is now closed. I will keep an open mind on selecting him for future games."
Cipriani has been pictured more on the news pages rather than the sports pages in recent months. He went out with one of the Cheeky Girls and appeared in a Sunday tabloid having become involved with a reality show beauty who was originally a man.
