1
Fans warm to the prospect of some Wasps legends returning post-Young
Dai Young’s nine-year association with Wasps ended on Tuesday, heralding the start of a new era for the Coventry club.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Welshman guided the six-time Premiership champions through some extreme lows, which included possible bankruptcy and relegation, to the Premiership final in 2017.
But with the club struggling this season near the foot of the Gallagher Premiership table, a change was likely, particularly in a season where there is now no threat of relegation due to Saracens automatic drop from the top flight.
Since Young stepped back from his first-team duties last week, there has been plenty of speculation as to who could be the next director of rugby at the Ricoh Arena.
A number of ex-Wasps players’ names have been bandied about, with Joe Worsley, Dave Walder and Rob Howley being the leading candidates.
(Continue reading below…)
Clive Woodward calls on the SRU to take drastic action against Finn Russell
Worsley played over 300 games for Wasps, 78 for England and one for the British and Irish Lions, winning a World Cup, four Premiership titles and two Heineken Cups during a glittering career.
The former flanker has worked with Bordeaux and Georgia and is now defence coach of Castres.
ADVERTISEMENT
This needs to happen! Bring back the old school and find that passion in wearing the Wasps badge once again!
— Gemma Dorling (@Gemma_Dorling) February 16, 2020
Would love both Joe Worsley and Rob Howley back, think they’d make a great team and bring back the passion for the Wasps badge.
— Oliver Jackson (@Ollie_Jackson89) February 16, 2020
Similarly, Walder and Howley played for Wasps during their glory years of the 2000s, winning silverware along the way. Walder is currently Newcastle Falcons’ head coach, while Howley is hoping to return to coaching following his ban for betting offences.
Would be brilliant. New coaching set up is desperately needed to bring freshness. We've got a new, young squad and a new coaching team to go with the new training base will help.
— Mattie JB (@MattieJB1208) February 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/girimeister/status/1229348482600841217?s=20
Need to replace one legend with another. We need Howley, Walder or Worsley.
— Matt Williams (@MWIncorporated) February 18, 2020
Wasps suffered a mass exodus of players at the beginning of the last decade with club legends moving on and retiring. That coincided with some financial struggles, but the move to Coventry promised a brighter future for the club.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, the core of the team which took Wasps to the Premiership final in 2017 have moved on in the last couple of the seasons and the club will need to rebuild again over the coming years.
The departure of so many players, as well as relocation to another part of the country, can leave a club lost and bereft of identity.
Therefore, many Wasps fans want those who were part of the club during the glory years to take them forward and bring pride in the shirt again. This is not to say that Young did not do that, but the likes of Worsley fit the bill now his position is vacant.
It needs someone like Joe Worsley who understands the club to come in. Alex King as well. I don’t care for flashy names but want someone who loves the club to come in with fresh ideas. Hard decision for club but on balance the right decision to move in a different direction
— Mania (@hickmania23) February 15, 2020
Would love to see Rob Howley, Joe Worsley and Alex King all part of the coaching set up next season 🤞
— Oliver Jackson (@Ollie_Jackson89) February 11, 2020
The bonus is that many of Wasps former players now linked with the club have had successful careers as coaches so far, so this is not just a case of appointing fan favourites for the sake of it.
This is the model that Leicester Tigers have tried to stick to over the years, as players such as Dean Richards, Pat Howard, Richard Cockerill and recently Geordan Murphy have taken charge of the club after retirement.
It is a way to ensure continuity in the direction and approach of the team. This is an option that Wasps fans seem keen on.
WATCH: Catch up on all the highlights from round four of the Japanese Top League
Comments on RugbyPass
If he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to comments