Wasps are in a hole and what they need to do to get out of it - Andy Goode
Wasps are in a hole, let’s make no bones about it, but there’s no better time to press the reset button than New Year and I’m convinced they’ll still finish in the top four.
You can’t get away from the fact that they’ve won one of their last 13 games and confidence is clearly low on the back of that but they’ve been missing the quality and leadership of Joe Launchbury, Jimmy Gopperth, Dan Robson, Tommy Taylor and Nathan Hughes for most of that period.
Those players have been taken out of the spine of the team as well. It’ll make a huge difference when they’re all back fit and they’re only three points off the top four, despite having been on such a horrendous run of form.
You’ve got to feel a bit for Lima Sopoaga at the moment as well. A lot is expected of him, and rightly so, because he’s come with a big reputation and is on a big salary but any fly half would struggle without his two first choice scrum halves inside him and when the experience and quality of Gopperth isn’t there outside him.
As a number 10, you’re always either hero or zero and I know that better than most. As well as not having the other first choice players around him, he’s a human being and bringing his family to a new country, as well as adjusting to a new league, isn’t easy.
He’ll want to fix everything himself and will be forcing it a bit too but he can’t take all the pressure on his own shoulders. He’s used to managing games, as well as doing the flair stuff, and needs to go back to basics just as everyone else does.
I’d love to see a lot more of Robson inside him and Juan de Jongh and Elliot Daly outside him and I’ve no doubt he’ll prove his worth sooner rather than later.
Dai Young did make a conscious decision to reduce his squad size last season and he wouldn’t have foreseen the number of injuries he’s had to deal with when he made that call but the salary cap presents a complex problem to Directors of Rugby.
Wasps spend right up to the limit but don’t go over it and the club’s rapid improvement over the past two or three years has meant that a lot of players have risen in value and rightly demanded more money.
That has led to players such as Ross Neal, Michael le Bourgeois and Ben Morris being recruited from the Championship as back-ups and then they’ve become first team players in their first season in the top flight because of the injury situation.
Nathan Hughes has reportedly been offered £500k a year by Bristol and Wasps just can’t compete with that every time one of their stars comes to the end of their contract. They have paid their top players more and Dai has had to cut the size of his squad as a result.
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The combination of a smaller squad size and both the number and quality of players they’ve had out injuries has been the major factor behind the recent downturn in results.
Having said all that, the players that are out on the field are making too many unforced errors at the moment. They’re trying to force things in a desperation to get out of the bad run of form that they’re in.
I think they’ve got to go back to basics. It’s not fancy offloads and round the back passes that’s going to get them back into the play-off places in the league and up to where they’ve become accustomed to being in recent years.
Wasps’ attacking game has been one of the best, if not the best in the Premiership, in the past couple of seasons but they’ve only scored 16 tries in their last 10 games, so it isn’t just the defence that’s been an issue.
It sounds simple in print and it obviously isn’t but they need to run harder and straighter and make defences work a bit harder than they’re having to at the minute, as well as cutting out the individual errors.
They’re losing the physical confrontation at present and getting back to winning that will go a long way towards turning their fortunes around.
You can’t say Wasps are too good to go down because that’s not true of anyone, especially in a season where many have suggested Sale as relegation candidates and they win away at third-placed Gloucester and boast names like Faf de Klerk and Chris Ashton on their team sheet!
However, I’m still confident that they’ll be nowhere near that end of the table come May and will be make the top four again for the fourth straight season.
The pressure is ramping up and next week’s game at home to Northampton is huge but a week is a long time in sport. They’re in a hole but they could well be back in the top four next week with just one victory in this toughest Premiership season ever to call.
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Comments on RugbyPass
The shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to comments