You know when rugby union is in danger of losing the plot completely.

A 21 year-old kid who has been thrust into the international spotlight only really because of injury to more senior, established players allegedly allows his agents to tout his name around the clubs of England.

Not content with a five-figure salary already from his present employers London Wasps (which they have offered to double), fly half Danny Cipriani and his representatives have “invited”, so it is alleged, offers from other clubs of a new contract at a reputed £350,000 a season.

What for, we might enquire? Is this wonder kid who is demanding wonder wages a seasoned international, a proven performer on the highest stage with 40 or 50 caps? Is he a player no country or club can afford to be without?

Well, England manager Martin Johnson regards him so highly he dropped him for England’s last autumn international against New Zealand, after Cipriani had had two kicks charged down in his previous two Tests, both of which led to tries.

A bit of a way to go then for the kid? You bet. He might one day make the grade and become a fine player, but he might never make it. It’s far too early to tell.

But not too early to demand star wages, it would appear. Now maybe it is something to do with the fact that Master Cipriani apparently has a celebrity girlfriend, Kelly Brook. Perhaps the flashing camera bulbs and all the media attention has gone to his head.

But the fact is that Cipriani is barely worth £200,000 the way things stand. And London Wasps have apparently told him that if he can do better, then he’d best clear off. They won’t be held to ransom for his services.

Alas for the young man, Christmas did not bring all good cheer. Saracens, probably the best placed club financially to lure Cipriani, have said they aren’t interested at those sums. They argue that any England player will miss up to a third of the English Premiership season and spending so much on a single player, no matter who he is, just isn’t viable.

Doubtless, this nugget of sound, common sense originated from Saracens’ Rugby Director Eddie Jones, an Australian who tells it like it is. Jones is a man who won’t have any truck with pumped up kids demanding a king’s ransom for their services.

By his attitude, Jones has done the game a mighty service. If anyone in rugby thinks that it’s a good idea to follow English soccer’s example and risk bankruptcy to sign some prima donna who might or might not fancy bothering in any particular game, then they ought to be seeing the men in white coats.

Rugby needs kids like Cipriani with over-inflated ideas of their own value, like it needs a hole in the head. That is the path to ruin. Let’s hope that others follow Saracens’ sound example and shun the kid. It would teach him the perils of greed.