Launchbury gives blunt assessment of Wasps' failings and opens up about England second row battle
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.
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.”
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
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.
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.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Dickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to comments