Danny Cipriani has been left out of the Melbourne Rebels squad to face the Stormers on Friday amidst speculation the fly-half is trying to engineer away from the Super Rugby franchise.
The former Wasps player’s time down under has been tarnished with a series of indiscretions, culminating in him being stood down from the side after breaking team orders and attending a nightclub in May.
Cipriani has demonstrated his wide array of attacking talents since moving to the southern hemisphere in an attempt to wear the England Rugby shirt at the World Cup later this year, but showed just why coach Martin Johnson was reluctant to include him after he was punished by his own team mates for breaking an agreement not to go on a night out following the defeat against the Waratahs earlier this season.
Scrum half Richard Kingi was also reprimanded for attending the club with Cipriani.
The Englishman had earlier found himself in hot water for taking a bottle of vodka from a nightclub in Melbourne.
Newspaper reports suggested Cipriani had quit the Rebels after missing almost a month for the side, forcing assistant coach Damien Hill to publicly deny the rumours.
Now chief operating officer Steve Boland has revealed there is on-going talks between the two parties in a bid to resolve their differences, but admitted that it Cipriani was currently unavailable for selection while the talks are on-going.
“The Melbourne Rebels administration continues to work through a number of issues with Danny Cipriani and his management.” He said.
“These discussions are now moving in a very positive direction, but at the moment Danny remains unavailable for selection.” Boland added.
Boland’s comments come just weeks after the club admitted they had “lost confidence” in the England international.
Last month, Bath revealed they had been contacted by Cipriani’s management over a potential move, while the 23-year-old himself admitted he would be tempted by an autumn switch to Top 14 side Toulon.