Danny Cipriani has urged Gloucester to bring in Sean Long as a coach next season, according to former Ireland international Darren Cave.
Former Great Britain and England rugby league star Long is currently assistant coach at St Helens and has been linked with a cross-code move to Kingsholm.
And Cave claimed on The Rugby Pod with Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton that Cipriani is a big influence in the move for Long, who would be brought in to work alongside the current first team coaching setup.
“I’ve heard he’s done some work at Gloucester and D Cips insisted that he be brought in to do their phase sort of shape,” said Cave.
“He’s basically come in and said that he needs someone to be on the forwards about their running lines flat out and he can’t be doing it as a 10 and they need to bring in Sean Long.”
Gloucester fly-half Cipriani is a known admirer of Long, who won four Super League title, five Challenge Cups and two World Club Challenges during his playing career with St Helens.
In a column for The Telegraph in February, Cipriani said: “I worked with NRL great Andrew Johns in Melbourne and met Sean Long while he was at Salford and I was at Sale Sharks.
“A five-minute phone call with Sean will teach you so much. He has an unbelievable brain.”