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
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
34 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
34 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments