Sale and England's fallen star Danny Cipriani's story is a sorry tale of missed opportunities and wasted talent The ball has to hit the floor when you kick from hand and on too many occasions at the moment Danny is kicking straight in to the arms of the full-back and thus inviting the counter attack. With Sale struggling, it is causing immeasurable problems for him and his side. Also, look at his goal-kicking percentage which stands at 70 per cent. It is the worst in the Premiership and nowhere near good enough for him to contemplate a return to the international stage. Your first-up goal-kicker cannot be missing 30 per cent of his kicks. That is the difference between a possible win and almost certain defeat. Defensively speaking, Danny has never been the strongest. When he is faced with front-line runners he tends to go high, opting for the scrag tackle rather than the trademark tackle that has made Jonny Wilkinson so effective without the ball. I will temper my criticism of that part of his game by saying that he is without doubt one of the best cover tacklers when the line is broken. If we are thinking of England, at this stage, he is a far less effective defender than someone like Owen Farrell. On the flip side, he has terrific skills in terms of attack. He is probably one of the best players going forward and undoubtedly one of the best in seeing holes and bringing others into the game. But at present, he is playing for a side that is struggling and whose three-quarters rarely lie flat. Even though that is the case, Danny still seems to throw the pass as if they were in the right place at the right time. Ill advised, I would suggest. On top of that, Danny could be accused of not moving with the times. His favourite mode of attacking with ball in hand is to take the outside shoulder and attack through that channel. He yearns for the outside gap. However, it is far more difficult to do that these days because defences come at you so much faster and the gaps are simply not there. Outside-halves have to be commanding but equally respective. Let us face it, you are often telling really big guys what to do and when to do it. If they don't respect you they won't listen. To me, that is where the real problem lies. In conclusion, Danny has all the attributes to come again, but at the moment he is nowhere near. He has plenty of Twitter followers, but those numbers will not win you your place back with England. It will be very difficult for him to prove himself in the short term and while he is playing with Sale. Their record in the Aviva Premiership is poor - one win in their first 10 games - and defeat in Toulon last weekend means they will not qualify for the last eight in the Heineken Cup. Yes, Danny might have fallen out of the spotlight a little since arriving back in England and heading for Sale, but he is an example of when rugby becomes football. The general rugby supporters will not like him for it. The true essence of rugby is the team with no stars, not a star that has been made to shine instead of being seen from a distance for its bright potential. It is probably time to talk about one or two others who clearly are deserving of the attention. Personally and I know that one or two have said that it is too early, I think the future lies at the feet of Freddie Burns. Next year could be Freddie's year. He has developed into an outstanding young outside-half, who sees space, kicks with authority and makes things happen. He brings others into the game and runs great angles. I have been mightily impressed by the manner in which he has emerged this year and 2013 could be a particularly rewarding year for the youngster. Had Farrell not have played so well against New Zealand, I think we would have been talking about Freddie as a shoo-in for the Scotland game at the start of the Six Nations. What I would say is that when it comes to selection, I would go for flair and then pragmatism and not pragmatism then flair. I think that speaks for itself. Burns to start and Farrell or Flood from the bench if the experiment is not working. One thing is for sure, Danny Cipriani will certainly not come into the equation. My advice to him would be this: get your head down, work hard and get some consistency. Then we can start talking about what if.