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Jack Willis impresses in front of Eddie Jones as Wasps edge Northampton

By PA
Jack Willis and Gabriel Oghre of Wasps celebrate after Josh Bassett of Wasps scores his side's fourth try (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Jack Willis shone in front of England boss Eddie Jones as the Gallagher Premiership restart finally burst into life when Wasps overran Northampton 34-21 behind closed doors at Franklin’s Gardens

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Willis scored one of his side’s four tries and produced a crucial steal on his own line in a finely-poised third quarter, the highlights of an accomplished display that enhances his prospects of figuring in Jones’ autumn plans.

The 23-year-old was poised to make his Test debut in South Africa two years ago only for a serious knee injury to stall his stunning early progress, but his return to form and fitness is putting pressure on England’s established flankers Tom Curry and Sam Underhill.

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He was helped by a virtuoso Wasps as the Premiership’s otherwise uninspiring opening weekend after a five-month interruption caused by Covid-19 finally produced some fireworks.

Northampton staged a second-half fightback to generate uncertainty but Wasps maintained their strong pre-lockdown form to claim a fourth successive Premiership victory under new head coach Lee Blackett, propelling them into fourth place.

Willis’ back-row colleague Thomas Young was named man of the match, while former England number eight Brad Shields also shone in the bonus-point win that was signposted early on.

The absence of fans at Franklin’s Gardens meant Dan Biggar could be heard repeatedly reading his team-mates the riot act as Northampton’s defence cracked with alarming ease to enable Josh Bassett and Willis to cross inside the opening quarter.

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“It’s too easy, we can’t allow it,” the Wales fly-half warned as Wasps raced over for the opener from a scrum move that saw Jacob Umaga link expertly with Jimmy Gopperth as Bassett roamed off his wing and through the middle of Saints’ splintering midfield.

Four minutes later, Biggar was incensed once more when Dan Robson broke from his own half to initiate an attack that ended with Willis powering over.

Two Biggar penalties gave Saints reward for spending most of the opening 30 minutes in the opposition half but the frailty of their defending undermined their control of territory and possession.

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A pair of crunching hits by Malakai Fekitoa on Fraser Dingwall made their mark but the second was deemed high and resulted in a yellow card for the All Black centre.

Northampton were unable to capitalise on the extra man and instead were opened up when an offload by Shields sent Umaga over, only for referee Karl Dickson to spot a forward pass.

Saints drew first blood early in the second half with wing Taqele Naiyaravoro taking the ball up the middle from a scrum, sucking in players to allow Alex Mitchell to grab and dot down from close range to cut the gap to 14-13 and blow the game open.

The energy was quickly sucked out of the Northampton comeback, however, when a series of forward drives ended with prop Ben Harris burrowing over before a Lima Sopoaga penalty propelled Wasps into a seemingly commanding 24-14 lead.

But the roller coaster continued when lock David Ribbans finished a driving maul launched from a line-out and Biggar landed another penalty to reduce the deficit to three points.

Sopoaga added a penalty for Wasps before a devastating move started by Young ended with a second try for Bassett that sealed a five-point haul for the visitors.

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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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j
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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FEATURE Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby? Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?
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