Danny Cipriani will leave Bath at the
end of the season and call time on his
career in English rugby.
The 34-year-old fly half joined the
club in 2021, having left Gloucester the
year before, but will depart in June to
move abroad. He will be replaced next
season by Piers Francis, the Northamp-
ton Saints playmaker.
Cipriani is starting at No 10 for Bath
against Gloucester in the West Country
derby in the Gallagher Premiership
today, with only two matches left after
that.
He revealed the news yesterday,
posting on his Instagram account: “My
Sale kept their top-four hopes alive
with a bonus-point, high-scoring
victory over Newcastle Falcons.
The Heineken Cup quarter-
finalists ended their run of three
straight home defeats in all
competitions, scoring five tries
along the way, including two from
the South African hooker, Akker van
der Merwe.
The visiting side played a full part
in an exciting game, scoring four
tries of their own and leading 15-14
at half-time. But Simon Hammersley
and Ewan Ashman crossed to seal
victory and the all-important bonus
point for the home team.Five-try Sale prevail
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
G Furbank (O Sleightholme 58min); M Proctor (G
Furbank 70), F Dingwall (P Francis 53), R
Hutchinson, T Freeman; J Grayson, A Mitchell (T
James 66); E Iyogan, M Haywood (J Fish 75), C
Carey (P Hill 11; A Waller 22), A Coles (A Moon 39),
A Ratuniyarawa, C Lawes, L Ludlam, J Augustus
(A Hinkley 6). Scorers: Tries Freeman (5), Ludlam
(11), Furbank (25), A Waller (36). Cons Grayson 3.
Pens Grayson (59, 77).
HARLEQUINS
H Jones; L Lynagh, J Marchant, A Esterhuizen, C
Murley (N David 59); M Smith, D Care (sin-bin 79);
S Kerrod (SG Botta 51; sin-bin 60-70), J Walker, W
Louw (W Collier 70), M Symons, H Tizard (J
Chisholm 52; J Musk 61), S Lewies, T Lawday (L
Wallace 72), A Dombrandt. Scorers: Tries
Esterhuizen (7), Jones (33), Dombrandt (46),
Murley (53). Cons Smith 4; Pen Smith (16).
Referee M CarleyP W D L F A B Pts
Leicester 2117 0 4 623 411 13 81
Saracens 21 15 1 5 682 401 15 77
Harlequins 2214 0 8 581 483 18 74
N’hampton 2213 0 9 661 571 16 68Exeter (^22) 12 0 10 504 456 14 62
Gloucester 21 11 1 9 543 490 16 62
Sale (^22) 10 3 9 501 469 13 61
L Irish (^22) 9 4 9 594 597 14 58
Wasps (^21) 11 0 10 555 522 13 57
Bristol (^21) 7 0 14 488 587 14 42
Newcastle 22 6 1 15 405 568 7 33
Worcester 22 5 1 16 392 749 8 30
Bath (^214) 1 16 407 632 9 29
How they stand
of discovery
the times | Saturday April 30 2022 2GS 15
Sport
Cipriani to move abroad
Will Kelleher
Deputy Football Correspondent
last couple [of] games in England are
fast arriving!!! I’ve decided to move on
to experience a new country.”
If Cipriani is keen to keep playing, a
stint in the United States may prove
attractive. During his career he has
visited the surfer Laird Hamilton in
Malibu for warm-weather training.
Bath’s director of rugby, Stuart Hoop-
er, believes he would be well suited to
coaching. Cipriani largely led Glouces-
ter’s attack between 2018 and 2020,
taking them to the Premiership play-
offs in his first season and winning the
league’s player-of-the-year award.
Cipriani started his career at Wasps
in 2006 before making his England
debut two years later, but he won only
16 England caps, having been frozen
out by several regimes.
only on the pitch — he did all the interviews for a club rugby documentary, left
HENRY BROWNE/GETTY IMAGES
Late kick propels rugged
Saints into pole position
By the time anyone at Franklin’s
Gardens managed to draw breath at the
end of this rip-roaring contest,
complete with eight tries and a
last-gasp, long-range penalty from
James Grayson, Northampton Saints
had won by the odd point in 63 and
taken a huge step towards the Gallagh-
er Premiership semi-finals.
Northampton had led 26-17 at the
interval after a stunning first-half per-
formance but they tired during the
third quarter, their ranks heavily
depleted by a host of injuries which had
contributed to the game going to
uncontested scrums for almost an hour.
Harlequins had scored the pick of the
tries, from Huw Jones in the first half,
and a quickfire double after the interval
put them in the box seat for a win that
would have sealed their place in the
play offs. Instead, the night ended in
frustration for the visitors and jubila-
tion for Saints.
Luke Wallace was penalised for not
releasing the ball-carrier as he pilfered
a turnover — a decision with which
Harlequins disagreed — and Grayson’s
strike had just enough legs to drop the
right side of the bar for Northampton.
Harlequins still had three minutes
but there was no miraculous escape act
this time. Marcus Smith threw a for-
ward pass and Danny Care was then
sin-binned for dissent after a break-
down decision went against Harle-
quins, his sixth yellow card of the
season.
Franklin’s Gardens roared the final
whistle. Victory lifted Saints to fourth
in the league, six points ahead of Exeter
Chiefs and Gloucester, who must
respond today against Bath.
“We’ve been playing knockout foot-
ball for a while and this group seem to
have enjoyed it,” Chris Boyd, the
Northampton director of rugby, said.
“It’s nice to actually win and play rea-
sonably well. I said to the boys before
the game, ‘We’ve been chugging along
but we haven’t had a really good per-
formance against a good side’. Harle-
quins are an excellent side and so for us
to get a bonus point win here against
one of the best sides of the league., that
was one of our better performances.”
There was a morale-boosting sur-
prise on the Northampton team-sheet
with Courtney Lawes in the back row a
fortnight after suffering a gruesome
hand injury; a compound dislocation of
his left thumb requiring so many stitch-
es he was described this week as
“Frankenstein’s Monster”.
For the two defence coaches this was
a horror show but for everyone else it
was a riot of points, attacking enterprise
and no little skill. Saints took the lead in
the opening moments with a Tommy
Freeman try, scored in the right corner
after a delicate tip-on from Grayson
and a bullet pass from Alex Mitchell.
Harlequins hit via André Esterhuiz-
en, but Saints were playing fast and
loose. Lewis Ludlam, who supplied the
scoring pass for the first try, stepping in
off the right to touch down for North-
ampton’s second inside 12 minutes.
The bad news for Northampton was
that by this point they had lost both Ju-
arno Augustus, the No 8, and Conor
Carey, the prop, to injury. Paul Hill, the
Northampton Saints
Alex Lowe Rugby Correspondent
Harlequins
32
31
Ludlam powers over the line for the second of four Northampton tries, as they
clinched a thrilling victory to move into the fourth and final play-off position
MIKE EGERTON/PA
replacement tight head, was then re-
moved with a head injury after a friend-
ly-fire clash with Lawes. The scrums
went uncontested from the 22nd min-
ute and from the first Northampton
scored again, with George Furbank at
full stretch after yet another thunder-
ous carry from Api Ratuniyarawa.
Furbank turned defender to halt a
powerful surge from Estherhuizen
down the left but there was no stopping
Harlequins when, with the benefit of
advantage, they played like the Harlem
Globetrotters: a kick-pass from Smith
to Joe Marchant, who chipped ahead
and soared over the touchline to flick
the ball back to Jones. The full back jug-
gled the ball, caught it on the stretch
and scored. Brilliant.
Smith’s conversion brought Harle-
quins back within two but it lasted only
moments, with Northampton profiting
from lightning quick ruck speed and
Alex Waller went over for the bonus-
point try. It had been breathless stuff.
Northampton, though, were rapidly
losing bodies, with Alex Coles the
fourth forward to depart before the in-
terval. The combination of energy ex-
pended in such a quick game and de-
pleted resources took their toll.
Harlequins came out fast and furi-
ous, with Alex Dombrandt blasting
through two defenders to score and
then Cadan Murley scooted over in the
left corner to seal the bonus point and
put the visitors ahead for the first time
after 51 minutes. Saints earned one pen-
alty back, converted by Grayson, before
Furbank was felled by a high shot from
Santiago García Botta.
Harlequins negotiated the sin-bin
period without conceding a point,
largely thanks to Smith intercepting a
tired pass from Mitchell, but there was
one final twist as Northampton
snatched a thrilling win.