Danny Cipriani is no attendant, content to swell an audience or two. Here is England’s Prince Hamlet, centre stage and destined to be at the fulcrum of the game – injuries permitting - for the rest of his career. Yesterday was a magnificent command performance for beginners. The English supporters came to see a maverick ignite an attack that has long been dormant. He fulfilled expectations on that count with his threatening alignment, fast hands and shift of footwork helping to open previously non-existent holes for Jamie Noon, to such an extent that the outstanding Newcastle centre was awarded the official man of the match.

It was a ludicrous decision because this was the day that Cipriani announced the dawning of a new era for England, an era which will revolve around him. He delivered the fluency for which England yearned but that was not even half of it. This was a performance stamped with maturity. Only a twenty year old of the most consummate gifts could have pulled it off.

From the second minute when he tapped and kicked a free kick 70 metres up-field, he was a step ahead of Ireland. He is also light years in front of most of his colleagues. When they find his wavelength England could amount to something. The flashes he brought to the game could blind opponents.

Yet there was nothing of the flash Harry – at least on the field – in the overall management of the game. Apart from the immaculate goal kicking and the extended range on his kicking out of hand, it was what he did not do that had such a profound impact. Not once did he smash into a breakdown and rarely did he throw himself about as a tackler. That might be construed by some as a weakness; in reality it is quite the opposite. He is a fly half who wants to run the show, not to mix it with the big boys. He wants to be Hamlet and when we combine what we know of his extraordinary Wasps talent and his radar like accuracy as a decision makes it is almost impossible to make a case against him.

Almost – but people will. There will be an army of outraged television viewers who will probably call for his head after his euphoric post match interview in which he espoused the view that “the forwards should be the effing man of the match.”

But all this tells us about the man is that, off the field he is barely out of his teens. A lot of people live by this language. It is only the parallel world of television where we are stunned by such coarseness. So what if the bloke doesn’t think before he speaks, in fact, good on him. At least he has passion, belief and a genuine cavalier side to his nature that this tired England squad have long needed.

Some will see the swearing and the night club `incident’ as question marks against his character. Yet this streak of individualism is precisely what England need. He may be occasionally immature off the field but on it he is a lethal mixture of youthful exuberance and maturity. Brian Ashton waited too long to introduce him into the test team but now that he has, the manager can make amends by making the decision England has long awaited; the commencement of the post 2003 era with a fresh face to lead it.

Danny Cipriani has what it takes to be the England captain, and for good measure make it immediately. He spearheads a future from which Phil Vickery will slowly fade. Like Geoff Cooke’s bold risk on the once capped as a replacement, Will Carling, Cipriani could give a new face which Ashton has so far sought in vain.

He has more test experience than Carling possessed when made captain and a proven ability to read a game. On Saturday he strutted around and told the forwards where to go. At Wasps he barks commands at Lawrence Dallaglio. If it sounds preposterous that is because English rugby has fallen into a conservative pit.

An argument against him will be that he has enough on his plate without the burden of captaincy but here is a talent which thrives on the centre stage. It lures him into awkward situations off the field but steers his team into all the right places on it.

His threaded kicks down the line in the first half were both beautifully executed and superbly conceived. His mind works as fast as his feet and that is rapid. And this was nowhere near Cipriani at his best. England failed to produce sufficiently quick ball to unleash his broken field running game but there were hints. The shimmering and subtle hands which unleashed Noon towards the try line in the twenty-third minute was sheer class and how it rubbed off.

England will always possess the muscle to fight the forwards corner but in Cipriani they have a special talent which demands the spotlight. It worked for Geoff Cooke, it could for Brian Ashton.