Olly Barkley is backing Danny Cipriani to stake England claim

Danny Cipriani has his “best chance” of claiming the England No.10 jersey according to former Red Rose fly-half Olly Barkley, who reckons a series of persuasive displays could rocket the Sale man into pole position for the Six Nations.
Former England schemer Barkley believes Bath's George Ford is also firmly in the mix as Eddie Jones sifts his playmaking options, but doubts whether Owen Farrell's more pragmatic style at Saracens will appeal to Twickenham's new head honcho.
Barkley, right, told The Rugby Paper: “Eddie Jones will want to move the ball around quite a bit and attack the line, so I doubt Owen Farrell does that well enough.
“While he has a very successful, pragmatic game, I don't think that will be Eddie Jones' style. So, for me, the front-runners will be George Ford and Danny Cipriani, with Cipriani having his best chance to stake a claim for that England jersey.
“Danny's a great player who's now got a fresh start and if he can show he's defending okay, managing games well and making decisions for the team rather than himself, he's got as good a chance as anyone for the Six Nations.”
Barkley detects a growing maturity about 28-year-old Cipriani that has not always been apparent.
He said: “If you'd asked me about Danny three or four years ago I'd have said ‘no,' but he mixes things up much better than he used to.
“He tends to do what's best for the team now rather than what he would really like to do, which is something all young No.10s have to get through.
“You learn to do things at the right time, pick and choose your moments to try something different, and he's doing that as well as he's ever done.
“Test match rugby is all about maturity because you're really put under the microscope and the opportunities you get are few and far between.
“It's the one arena where you can't really force your hand as a 10 because the whole team comes off the back of what you do, but Danny's learnt that.”
Barkley also wanted to see Exeter's gifted Henry Slade given a shot this February, before yesterday's untimely injury, but in one of the midfield berths rather than at fly-half.
He said: “I really like Henry Slade and would love to see him in an England team somewhere because he can give you creative options in the wider channels.
“You would probably need Manu Tuilagi alongside him to get over the gain-line, but I think that Henry could challenge Jonathan Joseph for the other spot.”
Barkley, meanwhile, believes Ford was harshly treated by England during the World Cup after being dropped following the Fiji win in favour of Farrell.
He added: “It felt like they were looking for an excuse to drop him and I was very disappointed. Fordy manages a game well and brings other players into play better than most, but he didn't get the chances he should have at the World Cup.”
NEALE HARVEY