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Launchbury gives blunt assessment of Wasps' failings and opens up about England second row battle

By Nick Heath

Wasps managed a third-place finish in last year’s Premiership but they were well beaten in their semi-final after a season ravaged by injury and with questions over the happiness of the players, with rumoured delayed salary payments and frustration over their training facilities. Fast forward to this season and with over a dozen new faces in, a similar number out, plus two new coaching appointments, the focus for captain Joe Launchbury is firmly on what happens on the pitch.

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Launchbury told RugbyPass, “Our strength over the last few years has been our attack. Defences are starting to understand how we play and we can’t keep expecting our attack to get us out of situations. We’re trying to have a more rounded team play to what we try and do. If you look at the talent we have in our pack, there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t on our day, if needs must, whether it’s weather, or whether it’s the way the game pans out, that we as the forwards can’t take the game by the scruff of the neck and become quite dominant. There’s no reason why we can’t do that.”

Launchbury admits, “Obviously defence is an area for us to step up in. We expend a lot of energy when we’re attacking, we play with such a free, open style which is extremely exciting to watch. But we need to have the same excitement and energy when we turn the ball over, to try and get that ball back. Ultimately when some of our guys in the back line get that ball with some space, we’re causing teams lots of problems. We need to have a defence which goes and wins that ball back for us.”

Having played in the last two of England’s Tests in South Africa, it’s a huge year for the 54-times capped lock given the competition in the second row.

Speaking about Eddie Jones’ recent pre-season training weekend, Launchbury said, “Going into camp, there were lots of new faces. I think there were eight second rows there and another two or three who were either rested or injured, not that I was counting! With twelve months to go there’s certainly competition in that place and that’s exciting for me. I want to continually try and prove myself every year and prove that I deserve to play at that level and as we all say, the old cliché, you’ve got to play well here. In a World Cup year there’s nothing more important than that. You get an opportunity here every week for your club to go out and show what you can do and hopefully I’ll hit the ground running.”

When asked if the players feel a need to protect head coach Eddie Jones given the criticism he has faced following five Test losses in a row in recent months, Launchbury agrees, “There’s definitely an element of that. We know how good we can be, we’ve shown in patches how good we can be. The frustrating thing for us is not finishing the job. I think if we’d have gone over there in the summer and won the Test series quite easily like we could have done, I think that would have answered a lot of questions and a lot of critics.

“We don’t feel we’re that far off. I think Eddie’s been brilliant since he’s come in and I don’t think that’s changed. I think a couple of results, that’s professional sport – any team in the world never has dominance for years on end. Winning twenty-odd games in a row is fantastic but it’s probably unsustainable in terms of the longevity of winning games like that. There’s always going to be a period of a slump, but the real test is now and we’re sitting twelve months out and it’s exciting and it’s up to us to now go and win games.”

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Meanwhile having suffered a knee injury and faced some issues with a disc in his neck last season, Wasps hooker Tommy Taylor is looking forward to the start of this season fully fit. He spoke to RugbyPass this week and began by talking about Andy Titterell’s step up to his role as forwards coach.

Taylor said, “He always has a few ideas, that’s what good about Tits. He’s very technical and very detailed which is really good. You can talk things through with him. He’s involving the lads which we’re trying to do a bit more so the lads have a bit more impact in training and in meetings, which is good this year. It’s started really well.”

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Video: Wasps hooker Tommy Taylor on his comeback

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Wasps scored 79 tries in the league last season, the second highest in the league, but their forward pack came under fire at times for a lack of consistency at set piece. While the side’s electrifying back line was papering over the cracks by crossing the whitewash, Taylor says it’s time for the forwards to start stepping up.

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Taylor said, “As a forward, especially as a hooker, set piece is what we get judged on. We were low down in the table, if you look at the stats from last year. That’s something that we’ve focused on and something that we’re going to aim to get better this year. But it’s hard, you look at the packs in the Premiership and you can have all the goodwill in the world in pre-season and you might start the season badly. So it’s about being realistic in how we train. I think we’ve put some good things in place so far and as a pack we want to make a few more headlines that we have in the past. Obviously, people think of Wasps and we’ve got an unbelievable back line but hopefully this year, as a pack we can push ourselves to the front.”

Having been out of the England picture due to injury, Taylor is keen to perform well for club and hope the call to country might follow. He told RugbyPass, “You’re out of the game for almost a year and everything goes quiet which is understandable. For me it’s just getting back on the pitch and getting some game time. How can I help the team out in any way possible? This year, the team ethic’s there, it’s more about the team than the individuals. There’s something there that we’ve felt in pre-season and in Portugal. We’re really one together and that’s what we’ve got to be this year. The team comes first.”

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Jon 26 minutes 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 3 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.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 7 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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