Christian Wade comparison has Wasps relishing Paolo Odogwu return
Exciting England prospect Paolo Odogwu is poised to play his first rugby match in eight months this Saturday after fighting his way back to full fitness following last May’s devastating ACL injury with Wasps. The soon-to-be 25-year-old lit up the English club game with his wonderful creativity last winter and it earned him a call-up from Eddie Jones for the 2021 Six Nations.
Odogwu came away from that championship campaign still uncapped at Test level and he was to seriously hurt himself during a late May league game at Northampton. However, he has since bounced back to fitness earlier than expected and is in line for Wasps selection for this Saturday’s European assignment versus Toulouse in Coventry.
“Paolo Odogwu will have a chance this week, he will be someone who will be available for selection,” enthused Wasps boss Lee Blackett, who last Sunday masterminded a Premiership victory over a Leicester side going for its 16th successive win in all competitions this season.
“He has done really well. It is very rare that it is straightforward [the recovery] but Paolo has not hit many hurdles along the way at all and that is probably because, in everything he has done, he has been as professional as they come. He is just desperate to get back. I have been seeing him outside doing running over the last two months, just waiting for him to get back ready and we can finally unleash him this weekend.
“Sometimes as a coach you want to play him straight away but we have got to be smart about this, he is coming back from an ACL. He has had three, four weeks of training, he has done really well. He is raring to go and we are excited to see him come back because he adds that little bit of difference, that point of difference, his physicality, his X-factor that makes him create something out of nothing.”
The irony of it… a year after getting poleaxed by a red-carded Owen Farrell, Charlie Atkinson embarked on a project researching the England captain along with All Blacks out-half Richie Mo’unga#Wasps #England #AllBlacks https://t.co/9E0WXBw4tS
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 7, 2022
It was last week in the lead-up to the Premiership match versus Leicester that Blackett spoke about how Charlie Atkinson had spent his four months out with injury researching the style of out-half game played by England skipper Owen Farrell and Richard Mo‘unga of the All Blacks. Odogwu, though, is wired differently and apparently the last thing he wanted to do during his injury rehab at Wasps was talk about rugby.
“It’s all down to individuals,” explained Blackett. “Charlie is different in terms of his position and how he plays. We put extra time into him because of how young he is and his role in the team, how he is going to manage it. Sometimes with certain players – and Paolo is one – you just want them to concentrate on getting back fit and actually some players do not like to talk about rugby.
“They don’t want to talk about it because of the pain they feel when they are missing out every week it is not worth going there. With some players, you just don’t bother, just let them focus on getting back as quickly as they possibly can and that is where we were with Paulo.”
What type of Odogwu is returning to the Wasps fold following his 2021 exposure with England before his injury? “He is more confident in his ability and because of it, he is a fraction louder. He is a brilliant personality, really well-liked amongst the group, and I just think he has got that air of confidence whereas before he was just consistently searching for it.
“Now he is just on it, he knows what his role is, he knows what his X-factor is and also players have massive confidence in him. You would have found when you had Christian Wade outside of you (before he quit rugby for the NFL), people would pass him the ball early. You saw someone like Christian and you just hit him. I think Paolo has now got that about him that players go… he is one of those players that you try and find as much as you can in the game because you know how devastating they can be.”
The pressing question is whether Odogwu will now become an outside centre regular in the long term at Wasps or persist with playing on the wing, the position where he initially earned his stripes in the pro ranks? “He has been on the wing and 13 and that is the good thing about him, he can play both,” reckoned Blackett.
“If you put him on the wing we have to try and find him with as much ball as we can, at 13 we can maybe find him a little bit easier. For us, quite often it can come down to what the team, needs most. I personally think he is a better 13 than he is a wing, he is really well suited to the 13 positions but we will play on either just depending on what the side needs.
“There are big strengths in his game… we want our 13s to be ball carriers and so trying to get Pablo there we can get more consistency with our strikes as well off set-piece with him. He is really good over the ball as a jackaler and you get a load more opportunities when you are at 13 than you do on the wing.”
What would Wasps do if England boss Jones asked that Odogwu stuck with playing in just one position? “Generally, as a whole, it is one of those (positional questions) you have got to analyse. If the player is not that bothered, you always try and put the team first but also with the individual we want them to play international rugby.
“If we can help in any way we will but we will always do it not to the detriment of the team. I would always judge it off the player and if he was adamant he wants to be a winger well then he is a winger and we will just have to do that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments