Gloucester slams RFU decision to charge Danny Cipriani

Gloucester Rugby slammed the Rugby Football Union for their decision to charge England international Danny Cipriani for 'conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game' after pleading guilty to a recent nightclub assault.

The incident occurred outside a nightclub in Jersey following which the Gloucester fly-half was arrested during the early hours on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old appeared before the court on Thursday and pleaded guilty for his actions and as a result, he was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £250 to a police officer.

The decision did not go well with the club chief executive Stephen Vaughan, who revealed that the England board had promised the club that there will not be any disciplinary action until they had completed their initial investigation.

"We are surprised and extremely disappointed to have received notification of disciplinary action against Danny Cipriani by the RFU," said Vaughan.

"Yesterday afternoon I received personal assurance from the RFU that no disciplinary discussions would take place until we had completed our own conversations.

"With the team in Belfast for tomorrow's pre-season friendly against Ulster, we had indicated that this would be carried out early next week following the team's return.

"There is no historic precedent of a player being singled out in this manner, and we feel that this disciplinary process has been influenced by the significant media coverage of this week's events and other external factors and not based on the actual facts of the matter.

"We do not believe that this decision and the subsequent unnecessary public attention that will now follow it is in the best interests of either the RFU, the club, the player nor the game in general."

Meanwhile, Cipriani was left out of Gloucester's squad for their friendly game against Ulster last Saturday which they went on to win with a 17-29 margin.