Wasps fly-half Danny Cipriani is out of contract with the Premiership side at the end of the season © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Danny Cipriani

Tournaments/Tours: Super 14 | Guinness Premiership

Teams: Australia | England | Melbourne Rebels | Rebels | Wasps

Wasps fly-half Danny Cipriani has been linked with a move to the new Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby franchise.

The 22-year-old, who is out of contract with Wasps at the end of the season, was reportedly "very interested" in making the switch when contacted by Rebels head coach Rod Macqueen whose side will join the expanded Super 15 as of next season.

Macqueen told The Times, "Danny is obviously the type of player we would like. He is a very talented individual and one of the players who has the skill-set that would be suitable to Super 15. He seemed very interested."

Cipriani's hopes of adding to his seven England caps took a blow last month when he failed to earn a place in Martin Johnson's squad for this year's Six Nations and any move to Australia would likely jeopardise his chances of returning to the international mix ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

"There is always going to be a lot of speculation with someone like Danny," added Macqueen. "Ultimately, it all depends where he feels he is in his career."

Speculation has been rife about Cipriani's playing future in recent months including a strong link with French Top 14 side Stade Francais but the player himself has previously distanced himself from reports linking him with a move away from Adams Park.

"I'm just focused on my rugby at the moment. I'm happy here and we have a squad to move forward," he said in December. "My big focus is taking the line on again and going forward. I'll hopefully put a string of games together for Wasps. If England come calling then that would be amazing because I'd love to be involved."

Commenting on the future of his star fly-half, Tony Hanks, the Wasps director of rugby, told the newspaper, "We are hoping we will know more in the next couple of days and know where we stand. We have said that we wanted to know where players stood by the end of January or the beginning of February. There is a lot of pressure on these guys. There are some big temptations out there."

Cipriani was most recently forced to withdraw from the England Saxons' squad for their game against Ireland 'A' at the Recreation Ground on Sunday due to a family bereavement.

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