Wasps' signing of former All Blacks star Lima Sopoaga labelled as 'clumsy' by top UK pundit
A leading UK rugby pundit has brandished Wasps’ signing of ex-All Blacks playmaker Lima Sopoaga as a “clumsy mistake” as the former test star’s form continues to wane.
The 28-year-old, who played 16 tests for New Zealand between 2015 and 2017, joined the Coventry-based Premiership outfit from the Highlanders in 2018 as a replacement for discarded England pivot Danny Cipriani.
Despite signing a two-season deal reported to be worth NZ$1.1 million per season, Sopoaga has failed to live up to the hype since arriving at the Ricoh Arena.
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He was last year rated as the Premiership’s “worst signing” during his first campaign with Wasps by The Times, an accolade which was described as ironic given that Cipriani went on to win Premiership player of the season last year after moving to Gloucester.
Sopoaga’s struggle to find consistency has continued into the 2019-20 season, as he was left out of Wasps’ match-day squad during their 35-31 defeat to Northampton on Sunday.
He was replaced by England age-grade representative and former Auckland youngster Jacob Umaga, the nephew of ex-All Blacks skipper Tana, and was even usurped on the bench by 36-year-old veteran Jimmy Gopperth.
Sopoaga’s dramatic fall from grace led prominent rugby writer Stuart Barnes to criticise Wasps’ acquisition of the former test star while writing for The Times over the weekend.
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“The signing of Lima Sopoaga was a clumsy mistake on the part of Dai Young, the [Wasps] director of rugby,” Barnes says.
“A burly South Islander with a few All Black caps and an entirely different way of playing to Cipriani was never going to ease seamlessly into the No 10 shirt.
“Wasps were never going to reproduce the beautiful balance of their all-out offence.”
While Barnes’ claims of Sopoaga being a South Islander may come under dispute considering that he was born and raised in Wellington, it’s clear that his lacklustre efforts in the United Kingdom have struck a nerve amongst the Premiership faithful.
Languishing in ninth place in England’s premier domestic competition with just two wins from eight outings, Wasps can only hope that their star man can play himself back into the sort of form that made him Super Rugby player of the year five years ago.
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The picture isn’t much prettier on the continental front, as Wasps sit 10 points off the pace of a potential qualification spot in their European Challenge Cup group with just two matches remaining in pool play.
The first of those two fixtures kicks-off this weekend, when Dai Young’s side travel to France to take on Agen on Saturday before facing Top 14 club Bordeaux at home a week later.
Wasps return to Premiership action at Sixways Stadium on January 25, where the Worcester Warriors await.
WATCH – Matt Giteau’s Eddie Jones drinking story from RWC 2003:
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