'There's nothing worse than seeing that Stuart Hogg try. How he kicks it and gets on the end of it, it's a disgrace'
Frustrated Wasps boss Lee Blackett has read the riot act to his underperforming squad in the wake of last Saturday’s second-half capitulation at Exeter, the visitors conceding three tries in the closing eleven minutes and seeing a 13-10 interval lead turn into a despairing 13-43 defeat.
Blackett’s side defeated an understrength Exeter 34-5 at the Ricoh on the first Saturday in January but any suggestion that result was somehow a measure of revenge for their loss in last October’s 2019/20 title decider at Twickenham was blown away in an embarrassing second half at Sandy Park.
The defeat marked Wasps’ eighth loss in their last ten Premiership outings and it has left them adrift in ninth place with six matches remaining, ten points shy of sixth place for the last of the Heineken Champions Cup qualification spots and a whopping 19 points behind Harlequins in the fourth and final league title playoff spot.
Whereas many of the recent Wasps losses were unfortunate, their barren spell even including two one-point defeats, what unfolded in Devon snapped the patience of the normally composed Blackett and nothing seemingly has been left unsaid in the hope of provoking a positive reaction when they host Bath this Sunday in Coventry.
What bugged the coach the most was how his charges faded in the type of high-ball-in-play contest they feel they usually thrive in, the Wasps bench unable to up the effort when it mattered most, and it resulted in some home truths being delivered on Tuesday when the squad reassembled to review the seven-try, 30-point hammering.
STUART HOGG. THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE TWEET.#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/dRXEDjrASc
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 17, 2021
“First half we were nowhere near our best but we were scrapping, we were fighting and we fully deserved to go in ahead,” said Blackett at this weekly Wasps media briefing. “We started the game average but got into it well and created opportunities. But we needed to go in further ahead than three points and then in the second half, there was very little that went right… we were fighting but the last eleven minutes I will remember for a very long time. We just don’t want to see that from a Wasps team.
“If you look at the game, and we have got a lot of data in terms of the running volume, we had 38 minutes ball-in-play and a season-high in terms of our explosive running. There was a lot of running involved, it was a fatiguing game but that is where we want to take teams and that was our aim.
“That was the most disappointing thing because part of our identity is taking teams to a dirty place and then backing ourselves when we get in that dirty place to be stronger. It got tough at the weekend, especially towards the back end. We faded.
“No one at this club wants to be associated with a team that rolls like that and the last three tries were unacceptable. It was as dark a meeting as you are going to get after the game in terms of our meetings – we did our review Tuesday and we had to show what it looked like and we had to be really honest. We are not going to be a club that accepts what went on in that last ten minutes. I never want to see that again.”
Being more specific about what left Wasps down, Blackett focused on his bench and their flaky assistance in the April sunshine. “One thing when we are at our best is when our bench is delivering, our bench coming on and putting a performance on.
“At the weekend when you are struggling and involved in a game like that, work-load wise and the amount of running we did in contact it was a season-high by a distance and that is where you need your impact guys coming off the bench and being fresh. We don’t look to blame a certain amount of people but I do feel overall our bench could have helped us.
“The game as soon as it was slightly gone and how hard the guys worked, we faded and there is nothing worse than seeing that Stuart Hogg try. How he kicks it and gets on the end of it, it’s a disgrace. Fair play to Sturt Hogg, who is a quality player. He is quick but we needed to be better than that and I’m not going to hide, I’m not going to stand behind it – it wasn’t acceptable and we are all aware of that.
“When we are at our best we want high-ball-in-play, there is no doubt. Anyone can see when we are at our best, it’s unstructured, it’s broken, it’s how we want the game and that was the thing that disappointed the most, that when it got to that stage towards the back-end we allowed the mistakes that happened to get on top of us and we ended up folding.
With the ex-All Blacks player heading to France, the Premiership club have spoken about what they will do about the vacancy it has created https://t.co/egWWHbEQVu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 21, 2021
“We are not going to stand here as a group and say that is anywhere close to being acceptable. It’s not and that is the thing we are taking from it, we need to be stronger. Even if things aren’t going our way and we have got the high-ball-in-play, we need to react and not let it be a negative impact like it had at the weekend.”
Switching to the post-mortem that unfolded on Tuesday, Blackett continued: “As we do every week we speak to the leaders in the morning and I thought those leaders came in with similar messages. Everyone was a little embarrassed with how the game ended and they all had very similar opinions.
“The review and the clips we put up, there was no arguing. You couldn’t argue with anything that was being shown and there was data backing up that video footage. It was a hard one to take but sometimes you can see the silence when you are asking questions and the silence spoke volumes.
“Everyone knows what is expected of them and that isn’t the standard we set. We expect a reaction. We have trained well so far in the week but there is no point in training well and not delivering at the weekend. It’s all about what we deliver this weekend.”
A shocking discovery was made when a doctor checked out the Italian https://t.co/QtUOcfqJuR
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 21, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments