Danny Cipriani misses Melbourne Rebels meeting
Danny Cipriani has got his Super 15 career off to a bad start by missing the first meeting with his new club.
Melbourne Rebels was due to meet before a four-day workshop in Victoria. However, Cipriani's arrival was delayed due to visa complications despite the fact Melbourne gave him plenty of time to get his
paperwork sorted out.
"Danny's telling us he's had problems with his visa.
We're working together with his management at the moment.
We're disappointed he's not here but the last conversation we had with Danny, he's due to come in here next week," said coach Rod Macqueen.
One or two pundits have suggested that Cipriani has been very lucky to get a move to a high profile Super 15 club like Melbourne. He now needs to double his efforts to
make sure there are no further problems with the transition to his new team.
A less than ideal start
This is a less than ideal start for the former London Wasps player. He seems to have already angered officials from Melbourne who gave him all the time he needed to make
sure the deal went through smoothly.
There would have been a few players within the Melbourne squad that saw Cipriani's signing as a gamble. These players will feel this news justifies their doubts because
they will see it as the player not taking the club seriously.
There is a danger that this news is going to stick in the mind of the coach. Cipriani has competition for his place at Melbourne and the coach may now make him wait for
a place in the team until he's got his house in order.
"There's an issue with the visa coming out of the English side of things. That's not to say it probably couldn't have been done
a couple of months ago. I won't get into that at this stage. We've been told he's not far off and will be here next week," added Macqueen.
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