• Fly-half had ‘no expectation’ of going to
World Cup with England• ‘Eddie is a very strong character and is not going to be swayed’
England’s ousted fly-half Danny Cipriani says it would have taken a miracle for Eddie Jones to pick him in his 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup but he will be ready to answer any emergency call in the event of Owen Farrell or George Ford suffering a tournament-ending injury in Japan.
Despite steering
England to victory over
South Africa in Cape Town on his last appearance for the national team 15 months ago, Cipriani always sensed he was fighting an uphill battle and believes he never had much of a chance of making Jones’s final cut. “Going into a big competition I would have had to turn water into wine to really sway him,” said the 31-year-old, who is yet to appear at a World Cup.