England five-eighth Danny Cipriani could be on his way to Australia, with new Super 15 outfit Melbourne Rebels targeting the talented playmaker.

Rebels coach Rod Macqueen spoke to Cipriani in London last week, and although the franchise is yet to make a formal offer to the 22-year-old, who is off contract with London Wasps in May, the former Wallabies coach admitted early discussions had been positive.

''We have just come back, and interviewed around 25 players over there, and he was one of them,'' Macqueen said.

''And we really haven't gone any further than that. It is very early days but he was keen to hear what we had to say. Danny is on our radar, he is a player we are looking at, but we won't be making him an offer just yet.''

Macqueen said there was no plan to flood the team with foreign players.

''We are only looking to get a maximum of five players from overseas; the rest will be Australian,'' he said.

RUGBYHEAVEN (NZ)