England fly-half Danny Cipriani will begin his comeback from injury tomorrow night – six weeks ahead of schedule.
Cipriani will line up in Wasps’ number 10 shirt against Guinness Premiership opponents Bath at Adams Park.
It is his first appearance since suffering an horrific ankle injury when Wasps beat Bath in the Premiership play-offs more than four months ago.
The injury sidelined him for England’s summer tour to New Zealand, amid initial fears that he might struggle to play again this year.
Cipriani, 20, won three caps last season, making his first start during England’s impressive 33-10 victory over Ireland at Twickenham, when he kicked 18 points.
But he was struck down by a fracture dislocation of his ankle in the play-off appointment with Bath, which meant a long recovery process.
Cipriani though, returned to full contact training last week, and has impressed sufficiently to make the starting line-up.
A successful comeback could also thrust him back into England contention.
Because of Cipriani’s injury, he was named in the second-tier England Saxons squad by manager Martin Johnson during the summer.
At the time, there appeared little hope of Cipriani being fit for England’s Test programme in November, which features Twickenham clashes against the Pacific Islanders, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
Johnson, technically, is only allowed to promote to his elite 32-man senior squad in the event of injury, yet a fully fit Cipriani could now test that selection system.
He replaces Jeremy Staunton from the Wasps side that defeated Leicester last Friday night, while Cipriani’s England colleague James Haskell is on replacement duty after completing a one-week suspension.
