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Wasps promote Tana Umaga's England-eligible nephew and sign scrum half

By Online Editors
Jacob Umaga playing for England U20's in 2017. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)

Wasps have finalised their 48-man squad for the new Gallagher Premiership season with two new faces, however a prop they’d lined up has failed a medical.

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Fly-half Jacob Umaga, who is the nephew of former All Black Tana and son of ex-Samoa star Mike, has been promoted from the senior academy and will battle it out with Jimmy Gopperth and Lima Sopoaga for the 10 jersey.

He has represented England at U20 level.

The 20-year-old, who has scored four tries in his seven first-team appearances to date, was in impressive form last season for Wasps A in the Premiership Rugby Shield, racking up 82 points in his seven outings, which included three tries, 26 conversions and five penalties.

Umaga, who has also played at full-back, regularly featured for Yorkshire in their recent Championship campaign, following a spell with Auckland in New Zealand, where he was part of the side that won the Mitre 10 Cup in 2018.

Jacob Umaga
Jacob Umaga during the round 13 Mitre 10 Cup match between Auckland and Waikato at Eden Park on August 30, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young said: “Jacob has picked up some valuable game-time and experience in the past 12 months both Down Under and also in the Championship and A League.

Umaga, is the eighth Academy product to be promoted to the first-team, following the likes of Tom Willis, Gabriel Oghre, Will Porter, Tim Cardall, Callum Sirker, Owain James and Sam Spink.

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“Having another Academy player graduate into the first-team is yet more evidence that our development pathway is coming to fruition and we’re excited to see how this next generation of players push on”, Young added.

The Coventry-based club Wasps have also signed young scrum-half Sam Wolstenholme from Yorkshire Carnegie.

The 20-year-old, who is studying Economics at Loughborough University, made 23 appearances for the Leeds-based outfit.

“Sam is a talented young scrum-half who will add some depth in the nine position, and hopefully training and playing alongside some international-class players next season will aid his development. We’re looking forward to seeing how he goes.”

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Wasps Academy Manager Jon Pendlebury added: “I’ve known and worked with Sam since he was just 15-years-old through the Academy at Carnegie.

“It has been pleasing to see Sam continue and progress into their first-team last year, playing as much as he did, which is credit to him and has now given Sam this opportunity with us at Wasps to develop further.

“Jacob enjoyed a busy 2018/19 and we’re really pleased he’s now got the opportunity to step up to the first-team where I have no doubt he’ll go on to showcase his talents on the bigger stage.”

Meanwhile Nottingham tighthead-prop Mike Daniels will no longer be joining the club ahead of the 2019/20 season after he failed a medical.

Wasps first-team squad 2019/20
Biyi Alo (tighthead-prop)
Josh Bassett (winger)
Kieran Brookes (tighthead-prop)
Tim Cardall (lock)
Nizaam Carr (back-row)
Tom Cruse (hooker)
Juan de Jongh (centre)
Malakai Fekitoa (centre)
Marcus Garratt (lock)
James Gaskell (lock)
Jimmy Gopperth (centre/fly-half)
Ben Harris (loosehead-prop)
Owain James (full-back)
Ashley Johnson (back-row/hooker)
Zach Kibirige (winger)
Joe Launchbury (lock)
Michael Le Bourgeois (centre)
Charlie Matthews (lock)
Simon McIntyre (loosehead-prop)
Rob Miller (full-back)
Matteo Minozzi (full-back)
Ben Morris (back-row)
Ross Neal (centre/winger)
Paolo Odogwu (winger)
Gabriel Oghre (hooker)
Jack Owlett (tighthead-prop)
Will Porter (scrum-half)
Alex Rieder (back-row)
Dan Robson (scrum-half)
Will Rowlands (lock)
Billy Searle (fly-half)
Brad Shields (back-row)
Callum Sirker (winger)
Lima Sopoaga (fly-half)
Sam Spink (centre)
Tommy Taylor (hooker)
Jeff Toomaga-Allen (tighthead-prop)
Jacob Umaga (fly-half)
Sione Vailanu (back-row)
Ben Vellacott (scrum-half)
Theo Vukasinovic (lock)
Marcus Watson (winger)
Tom West (loosehead-prop)
Jack Willis (back-row)
Tom Willis (back-row)
Sam Wolstenholme (scrum-half)
Thomas Young (back-row)
Zurabi Zhvania (loosehead-prop)

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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