Wasps expect to know after Christmas whether Danny Cipriani will sign a new contract but last season’s Premiership finalists are not sitting idle waiting for the fly-half to make up his mind.
Cipriani, who returned from injury last weekend to inspire Wasps to victory over Leicester, is attracting interest from French clubs who have the means to make him an offer that the Ricoh Arena club would be unable to match because of the salary cap.
“Danny is one of the best attacking outside-halves I have worked with,” says the Wasps director of rugby, Dai Young, “and it is good for us that he is back in time for what is a crucial double-header in the Champions Cup against La Rochelle. We have had talks with him and it will be sorted out after Christmas.
“I think he is undecided about his future. He does not want to give up on England, but if he concludes that ship has sailed, he may look to see where the biggest offer is and you could not blame him. I think it will come down to whether he thinks he has a chance of playing for England again.
“We know Danny is looking at his options and he is aware that we our considering ours. We will not be rushing off and signing anyone until we have spoken to him after Christmas. Danny is part of a 9, 10, 12 axis with Dan Robson and Jimmy Gopperth: the three complement each other and with Jimmy is top quality outside-half in his own right, if Danny went it may be that we replaced with a playmaking centre.”
Queensland Reds last week told the Australia fly-half Quade Cooper that he was not in the plans of their head coach, Brad Thorn, next season and was free to leave. Wasps did not make a marquee signing after another Wallaby, Kurtley Beale, left at the end of last season but Young plans to recruit one for the 2018-19 campaign.
Wasps’ former captain James Haskell is another player out of contract at the end of the season and his future may also be tied up with whether he still has an international future after being omitted from the England squad in the autumn.
“Hask is a fantastic guy you would go to war with,” says Young. “I have told him to just concentrate on showing he is the leading back-rower at this club and prove he is still good enough to be playing for England. Joe Launchbury and Elliot Daly have signed new deals and I am confident we will keep most of our players.”
Wasps will need all their experienced hands on Sunday when they travel to the Top 14 leaders, La Rochelle, in a meeting between two clubs who finished at the top of their leagues last season only to miss out on silverware through the play-off system. La Rochelle had not played in the Champions Cup before this season but entered the competition at a sprint with impressive victories over Harlequins and Ulster while Wasps started with defeat in Belfast when they were in the middle of a losing run.
“Matches like this are why you work hard for 10 months of the year to get into the top six,” says Young. “We know it is going to be a massive challenge and it is about us going there and playing. We cannot sit back and be conservative, hoping to hit them with a sucker punch, and we are pretty much at full strength behind.
“They are a momentum team, big and strong. If they get on a roll, you can forget it. If we keep hold of the ball and up the tempo, there will be holes in their defence; if it is a slow arm wrestle, we will not win. We cannot give them too much possession. We know we are going to have to play our best rugby and we have to get something out of the game ahead of the return.”
