Meanwhile, amid all of the ridiculous over-reaction to Jonny Wilkinson’s lacklustre display for England against Italy in the Six Nations, former England forward Brian Moore has at least provided a different angle on Martin Johnson’s fly-half worries – not least the future of Danny Cipriani. Tipped to be the next big thing in rugby union, Cipriani’s stock has collapsed quicker than an X Factor winner. Moore still believes the Wasps man’s talent can be unlocked but the key, he writes in the Telegraph, is keeping Cipriani in the country.

A couple of years ago Cipriani burst on to the English rugby scene like a meteor, and with just as much sparkle and fizz. Heralded in some camps as the Messiah who would take England out of the doldrums and into the new decade, he was touted by others as an England captain. Indeed, one seasoned pundit declared that he should be given the role immediately and the whole team built around him.

What has transpired shows how precipitous was this last recommendation, but Cipriani’s fall from grace is not straightforward, nor is it at all welcome. Well-publicised run-ins with the English management and a horrendous injury do not account for Cipriani’s wandering in the wilderness of the Guinness Premiership and the difficulties he appears to be having choosing where he is to play his rugby in the immediate future.

While he has yet to recapture his form of two years ago, when he had a conspicuously good game against Ireland for the full national team, he remains one of the few genuinely creative players in England. If negotiations [with Wasps] are dragging out it is their fault for not being decisive, not his wanting to keep open his options. In these days of money-based decisions, any plea for loyalty is quaint, given that reciprocal loyalty is highly unlikely to be offered should Cipriani not continue to be a quality player.

No, for all the awkwardness that Cipriani seems to engender, there must be something else that is creating this succession of difficulties. Those close to him have no criticisms to make of his commitment to training or playing, but with that praise comes qualification that is personal and often maddeningly non-specific – “of course, you have to manage him carefully” or “he is difficult to handle at times”.

Yet surely this sort of conundrum is the essence of the art of good management, to find the way to harness and direct potentially wayward ability. If Sir Alex Ferguson cold-shouldered every player who came with baggage, his litany of successes would be far shorter. Perhaps a request for a chat with the Scot ought to be on the action list at Wasps.

Cipriani’s club may also have a problem. Wasps have a deserved reputation for egalitarianism and a pragmatic approach to all they do, which is fine until it has to accommodate something or someone slightly different. If Cipriani has changed so much that he no longer fits the Wasps mould, you have to ask why.

Unless the initial assessments of Cipriani were woefully inaccurate, he must still have a bright future in England and with England. As last Sunday’s match against Italy showed, England cannot afford to ditch any player with his sort of talent.