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Barkley: Has visited Cipriani

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• Bath
• London Wasps

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• Olly Barkley
• Danny Cipriani

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Danny Cipriani has been backed to bounce back from the fracture dislocation to his right ankle by the player who tackled him when the horrific injury happened.

Bath and England star Olly Barkley was the unfortunate player who caught Cipriani, with the freak incident leaving the Wasps fly-half facing six months on the sidelines.

But Barkley has already been to visit Cipriani at Lister Hospital in London to offer his support to his friend.

Barkley told The Daily Mail: "It was a complete accident. Danny went for the gap and I went to tackle him, the sort of thing which happens hundreds of times in any match.

"I heard something go. It's not a very nice thing to hear or see. It's an incident which will stay with you for quite a while. Nobody would wish that on his worst enemy. Alex [Crockett, who was also involved in the tackle] was quite severely affected by it. He went very quiet and felt a bit queasy.

Horrific

"It was definitely the most horrific thing I have seen on a rugby pitch. It was so far out of place that, at first, Danny didn't think it was his leg.

"He had looked down at his foot just after it happened and it must have put him in a massive state of shock. It looked horrendous and put a huge cloud over the remainder of the match.

"What made it all the more upsetting was that, apart from everything else, Danny is a mate. I'd been looking forward to the chance of playing alongside him for England in New Zealand next month. It's a huge shame for Danny and a huge shame for England.

"I'm sad for Danny, sad for England and I wanted to go to tell him how sorry I am that it happened. If that had been me, I would have appreciated a visit from one of my mates."