Surely Cipriani is destined for great things in an England shirt? © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Danny Cipriani

Tournaments/Tours: British and Irish Lions tour | Six Nations | Six Nations Under-20's | Guinness Premiership

Teams: England | Wasps

Perhaps I am developing a prudish nature during my sad slide towards middle age - but isn't it time Danny Cipriani side-stepped the tabloids?

I accept such a movement might prove tricky until he completes his recovery from an horrific ankle injury, so maybe he should try handing off the paparazzi instead. Better still, why not stay in and read a good book?

Cipriani is currently big in the world of flashlit photography, especially when it involves leaving a London restaurant or climbing into a cab with model and presenter Kelly Brook.

''Fair play, Danny me old son,'' might have been the congratulatory tone adopted by my old Uncle Jack, but isn't Cipriani in danger of going a little too off-message? Yes, he is a 20-year-old international rugby player with the world at his feet. Unfortunately though, Cipriani is currently of more interest to picture editors than sports editors.

One wonders what his club Wasps make of it all.

Cipriani has done absolutely nothing wrong, but it might not be too much longer before the Danny and Kelly daily pictorial loses its appeal - at Adams Park and Twickenham. It is barely six months since three times-capped Cipriani was dropped from England duty for the Calcutta Cup game against Scotland at Murrayfield.

He was pictured leaving a London nightspot just after midnight, where he had gone simply to drop off some match tickets for friends, but then-England boss Brian Ashton took a dim view. England described Cipriani's actions as ''inappropriate behaviour,'' and warned him about his future conduct.

Critics of Ashton viewed the punishment as heavy-handed - akin to cracking a nut with a sledgehammer - but paparazzi lenses had discovered an exciting new target, and once trained, they rarely lose focus. Now that Cipriani has Kelly Brook in his company, it's double your money time for the snappers, making the gifted Wasps fly-half as marked a man off the field as he is on it.

There is nothing to suggest Cipriani is not a level-headed, mature individual who will take such attention in his stride. Better though, surely, for those who inhabit Cipriani's sporting inner circle to have a quiet cautionary word now, warning him about the dangers of flirting - with paparazzi photographers, not Miss Brook, that is.

Most of us, certainly those in the world of rugby, would rather see Cipriani repeatedly captured in the image of a player whose triumphant salute after a brilliant match-winning performance adorned many papers on Monday morning this week.

His name? Jonny Wilkinson.

There are few finer sights in English rugby than Bath's picturesque Recreation Ground packed to capacity on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The wonderfully-quaint old ground, bordered by stunning Georgian buildings, the River Avon and sweeping views high into the hills, is a unique setting that provided the stage for Bath legends like Jeremy Guscott, Stuart Barnes, John Palmer and Tony Swift to strut their stuff.

With every passing day though, the prospect increases of Bath not playing at The Rec next season. An endless wrangle that has the Charity Commission - currently in control of The Rec - at its epicentre, means Bath's plan for a 20,000-capacity stadium on the existing site remains some way off.

So far off, in fact, that club sources confidently predict a temporary ground-share with League One football club Swindon Town starting next term. Such a prospect then begs the question of whether Bath would ever return to The Rec, or would millionaire chairman Andrew Brownsword target building a new stadium elsewhere in the Georgian City?

Bath have 10 Guinness Premiership games, a minimum three Heineken Cup fixtures and an Anglo-Welsh tie left at home this season. It might just be worth catching one of them - while you still can.

There will be heroes everywhere you look at Twickenham on Saturday. On the field, it's a Help for Heroes XV - Lawrence Dallaglio, Martin Johnson, Jason Robinson, Will Greenwood et al - versus an International XV - Scott Gibbs, Jonah Lomu etc.

Off the field, it will be about raising as much money as possible for the Help for Heroes fund to support rehabilitation of British wounded service personnel who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The attendance could top 50,000, which would represent a remarkable effort by all concerned.

Tickets are available from Ticketmaster by calling 0844 847 2492 or www.Ticketmaster.co.uk.