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Billy Vunipola has tweeted his disgust at Danny Cipriani's controversial red card
By Online Editors
Injured England Number 8 Billy Vunipola was clearly not impressed with the decision to send off Danny Cipriani in the first half of Munster and Gloucester's European Champions Cup tie in Thomond Park this afternoon.
Referee Alexandre Ruiz said he had no choice but to send the Gloucester playmaker from the field after his shoulder connected with the head of a Munster ball carrier in the 29th minute.
Cipriani apologised as he walked off the pitch, but the decision to send him off effectively decided the game before another ball was kicked.
Vunipola, who is currently sidelined after suffering a fractured left arm against Glasgow, underwent surgery on Tuesday and is expected to be out of action for around 12 weeks.
The 128kg backrow clearly wasn't impressed with the decision, tweeting: "Another game ruined! Unlucky everyone who bought tickets."
It's capped off what was a dire week for Danny Cipriani, who was left out of England's November Test squad by Eddie Jones.
“We’ve gone with two fly-halves. We think Owen and George are the two best fly-halves and they’ve been consistently in the team since I came in 2016,” Jones told reporters this week.
“We think they are the two guys to lead England forward. Danny is the third choice. There are some areas of the game we think he needs to work on. He understands that and now it’s up to him.”
But there could yet be further opportunities for Cipriani, who made his first start for England since 2008 against South Africa in June.
Discussing Cipriani, James Haskell and Don Armand, Jones added: “They are guys who could come back into the mix. No door is closed.
“We’re just looking at every player and seeing what they can contribute. But we think the players we’ve got in the squad at the moment are the best players.”
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Latest Comments
Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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