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'A bad day in the office' - Blackett unhappy as Wasps flop at home

By PA
(Photo by PA)

Lee Blackett called for his side to cut out the mistakes after Wasps fell to a 23-8 defeat at home against Bristol in the Gallagher Premiership.

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Callum Sheedy scored 18 points for the visitors, with Magnus Bradbury adding a further five as the Bears secured their second win from their opening two games.

In contrast, Wasps are still without a victory despite veteran hooker Tom Cruse giving his side the perfect start at Coventry Building Society Arena.

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And Blackett blasted a mistake-ridden performance from his side, who currently sit 11th in the table with just one bonus point to their name.

He said: “The number of opportunities out there, you look and you reflect and you’re thinking, it wasn’t like we looked clueless at times, we were creating opportunities.

“We just made far too many mistakes with the ball, that’s why I’m constantly saying we’ve got to improve our skill set and that’s what we want from Wasps players.

“I think if you’d seen us in pre-season, I saw us heading in the right direction in terms of that. I think it’s a bad day in the office but we have got to be constantly working on that and that is the direction we are going in – we’re working really hard on our skills and we’ve got to work even harder.

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“It’s a little bit of the story of the week before. You’ve got guys so passionate about playing for this club and everything like that. I just think we made quite a few mistakes around the contact area, whether it was stripped, whether it was on the floor, so it’s not just out-and-out handling errors.”

Bristol are currently second and director of rugby Pat Lam felt the win showed the progress made by the team in recent years.

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He said: “It was the first one for us as a group since I arrived but the first win here in the league for the club for 22 years. It was a massive marker for us and certainly a monkey off our back. To go back-to-back having beaten them last year at home as well is good.

“It certainly wasn’t the prettiest game, but at the end of the day five points were on offer and we took four today and we deprived them of points too, so I am really pleased.

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“Our defence and the character of the boys was outstanding, they just worked their way through the adversity.

“They [the two wins] haven’t been the free-flowing game we would like, they only made 80 tackles and we made 220 tackles and that is some serious character to do that because you can see they have got some serious threats.”

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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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