Bitterness blinkers the eyes, so we can forgive the leading New Zealand commentator who, horrified by the news that Dan Carter may well move to Europe, asked last week: “How are England ever going to produce fly-halves if they sign foreign players like Dan Carter? They will struggle for fly-halves for a generation.”

You could try two words of response. No, not those two. Try Ryan Lamb, or Toby Flood, or Shane Geraghty. Anyone who has seen the steaming progress of Wasps this past month, or followed the elite junior scene in England in the past five years, would offer two more: Danny Cipriani. There is no question that Cipriani is stirring fond and unfaint hopes in rugby at present that the game has uncovered a true diamond. To me, he is the most complete young fly-half I have seen since Jonathan Davies, or even before. Some people have an innate talent for spotting promising sportsmen, but the paediatrician at the delivery of a son for Anne Cipriani in Roehampton, southwest London, in November 1987 set a record which cannot be beaten. “He told me at the time of the birth that I had a very strong son,” Anne recalls. “He never had a floppy head like other babies, he held his head up. I suppose he was a sportsman since the day he was born.”

Cipriani’s distinctive name has been around for years on rugby’s grapevine. His progress, from Rosslyn Park mini rugby through Oratory School and then Whitgift, through England age-groups and the national academy (when Brian Ashton described him as the finest prospect he had seen), has been relentless. He has excited people for quite a while. One friend rang me almost beside himself some years ago because his son was playing that day against Danny Cipriani. It is all a cross that Cipriani has had to bear.

But 20 years on from Roehampton, the best sign of progress is the sound of silence. At the end of last season, Wasps lost Alex King, the old maestro. They were preparing for another ferocious season and a pool in Europe drawn by the devil himself. It was not the time or place to be found wanting at fly-half. Would they make a big signing?

They did have an internal candidate in Cipriani, who made the first team last season out of the firing line at full-back and won a Heineken Cup medal in Wasps’ win over Leicester. But he was then only 19, preposterously young to be bossing around illustrious players in the key position in the hardest league. But no signing was ever made. It was a courageous but bold sign of confidence from Ian McGeechan, the director of rugby, and Shaun Edwards, the coach. “I asked Ian if I would get a chance at fly-half. He told me that I would start the season at full-back but that he wanted me to keep an eye on the 10 jersey.”

Now, he is wearing the jersey. He switched to fly-half late on in several games this season, orchestrated a sumptuous come-back against Gloucester, played with a staggering coolness under hellish pressure in the European win over Munster, and since then has been smoothly piloting a team on splendid form.

Cipriani, potentially, is very special indeed. He can kick beautifully at goal and out of hand, he can defend, he reads the game superbly, he has a deep well of self-belief. He is also seriously fast. He has come under the ministrations of Margot Wells, the former athlete, for physical improvement and spiritual care, and recently registered 2.71sec for 30 metres – class sprinting.

His air of self-belief is often seen as arrogance, albeit by people who can never seem to name the great fly-halves who did not have that quality. “I don’t want people to think I am like that off the field. But I am a young player at fly-half and I have to be the boss. I have to boss Lawrence Dallaglio, World Cup winner; Simon Shaw, great lock; Phil Vickery, England captain. I have to tell Josh Lewsey of all people what to do.” Cipriani’s commitment is staggering. His ambition is to play for England and almost everything which cannot help that goal is shelved. Just the description of his week causes lactic acid to rise in the veins. Today he will be at Wasps for a team recovery session. Tomorrow brings Wasps training, then his own kicking session. “I am usually the last person off the pitch. I need to do my extra kicking, extra tackling and extra passing. I thought I was professional but being with England in the World Cup camp opened my eyes. I was out kicking with Jonny (Wilkinson) and one of the fitness guys came out to say that we had done an extra 90 minutes and it was time to come off. But then Jonny does extra extra.”

The week wears on. Every day, he is either at Wasps, adding his extra sessions, or with Wells in Guildford, and sometimes both. The days of one-to-one with Wells, lung-bursting though they are, he calls “days off”. He is also absorbing all he can from his colleagues. “I was speaking to Simon Shaw and he told me that the hardest scrums and lineouts and rucks are those in the first 20 minutes. Those big forwards have to win the ball, then get over to the other side of the field, so you have to look after them and get them on your side. So no silly wide passes early on.” The commitment is ferocious, but he is unapologetic. “I love being out there, love training with people like Eoin Reddan and Riki Flutey and Fraser Waters, who are all playing out of their skins. People say I am a promising player. That means nothing to me because I’ve never played for England. So I’m going to work as hard as possible because that is my ambition. I don’t want the excuse to be used that I’m too young and inexperienced, because I have already played in big-pressure games.”

If it all seems machine-like in its precision, shaving fractions off sprint times, endlessly tinkering techniques, then the Cipriani story is also one of vast humanity. He is wonderfully personable and, so his pals say, emotional. And his “silver spoon” passage through various rugby schools and academies was anything but.

Anne separated early from his Trinidad-born father (as he once said, he tends to be the only white face at family gatherings).

She was left to care for him and his sporting welfare as his father returned to the Caribbean, where he now keeps in touch chiefly through the telephone and cuttings. “I was never meant to be in those rugby schools but even though I had sports scholarships, it was still expensive. My mother worked incredibly hard so I could go to those places.” Anne put in endless double shifts as a black-cab driver to raise the funds, interrupting the long day only to be at home to make Danny’s tea. “She has been wonderful for me, and I want to keep on getting better to reward the work she has put in.I want to repay her one day.”

He has already done it. I asked Anne whether an England cap would finally mark the day when her efforts were rewarded. “No. I am there already. It was always his dream, not mine. I suppose I wanted him to go to medical school or something. But now he is fulfilling himself, I’m happy.”

In the next few years, the pressure of the arena, the position and the years of expectation will be immense. In the end, while revelling in the sheer precocity and engaging demeanour of this young man, it was hard not to worry about that pressure.

Did his mother regret the lack of proper teenage years and fear the pressure? “Of course not. He is mixing with a group of people who behave well, who work hard and who are very focused.” I also wanted to know from Cipriani, given all the intensity of his life, precisely when he lets himself go. “When do I let myself go? When I am out on the rugby field,” he said. It is time to stop worrying about England’s young fly-halves, and to start revelling.

England’s bright future

By Stephen Jones

Danny Cipriani is not the only player of promise in the England game. Here are the top 10 young hopefuls

1 Danny Cipriani Fly-half, Wasps, aged 20 Remarkable, multi-talented young genius now installed at the helm for Wasps and already challenging Jonny Wilkinson

2 David Wilson Prop, Newcastle, 22 Always earmarked for stardom, he will prosper under the tutelage of Carl Hayman

3 Tom Croft Forward, Leicester, 22 A prodigious talent fl itting between the second and back rows, but he has size and footballing talent

4 Dominic Waldouck Centre, Wasps, 20 Already with a full season under his belt at the top level, now recovering from injury to resume a regal progress

5 Ryan Lamb, left Fly-half, Gloucester, 21 Impish genius with the ability to unlock defences. Small in stature but effective at his best

6 Ben Foden Back, Sale, 22 Once seen as the coming man at scrum-half, but now reeling off brilliant performances at club level at full-back for Sale Sharks

7 Shane Geraghty Fly-half, London Irish , 21 Already with a sensational Test appearance against France last season, an effervescent talent

8 Toby Flood, right Fly-half, Newcastle, 22 Tall, elegant and has a fi ne kicking game

9 Richard Blaze Lock, Leicester, 22 The young giant has switched from Worcester to Leicester. Has size and attitude to go all the way upwards

10 Jordan Crane No 8, Leicester, 21 Another young giant beginning to fulfi l his promise with the Tigers