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'You have to feel a bit sorry for him' - Wasps boss backs star signing Sopoaga
Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young expects star signing Lima Sopoaga’s fortunes at the club to turn once his Wasps teammates return to full fitness.
Sopoaga has struggled to make a consistent impact since joining the Premiership club in September last year, and was shown a yellow card over the weekend during his side’s Champions Cup pool match against Bath. Sopoaga delivered a no-arms tackle Jackson Willison to earn the sanction as the winless Wasps suffered their fourth pool loss and Bath earned their first pool victory 18-16.
“We always knew Lima would take a bit of time to settle in and you have to feel a bit sorry for him because he’s been trying to settle with half the team he expected to be around him being unavailable,” Young said in an interview with The Rugby Paper before the Bath fixture.
Springboks fullback Willie le Roux – last season’s Premiership leader for try assists – has been in and out of the side, England halfback Dan Robson and backline linchpin Jimmy Gopperth have been out with major injuries and winger Christian Wade – Premiership rugby’s third highest try scorer ever – quit rugby to pursue a career in the NFL halfway through the season.
“Last season our attacking prowess was pretty special with Dan Robson, Jimmy Gopperth, Willie Le Roux and Wadey around Danny Cipriani, but we’ve had pretty much none of them playing so it’s been hard to replicate that,” Young said.
England flyhalf Cipriani starred for the club last season before jumping ship to Gloucester this season, where he has guided the side to fourth on the Premiership table.
“That’s put more pressure on Lima but we know he’s a quality player and we also know that, like most players from the southern hemisphere, you’re probably not going to get the best out of them in their first season in England,” Young added.
“He’s shown glimpses and with some of those more experienced, recognised players around him, he’s going to grow. They’ll take the pressure off and hopefully he’ll go from strength-to-strength, which we’re confident he will.”
Fans have been divided in regards to Sopoaga’s impact, with plenty sharing Young’s belief that he will get more comfortable with more rugby under his belt and just as many referring to the former Highlander as a ‘dud’.
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I can’t wait for Lima to prove every single one of you lot wrong. Today aside (I haven’t seen today’s game) he’s having a good start to his Wasps career. If you can’t see that most of the faults in attack don’t come from him then you don’t understand the game.
— Alex Chinery (@alex_chinery) January 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/rickyjoneshere/status/1084110458775355393
https://twitter.com/mrkearsey/status/1068904223277047809
The 27-year-old is in the first year of his three-year deal reportedly paying over NZ$1 million per season.
Before joining Wasps Sopoaga played Super Rugby for the Highlanders from 2011 to 2018, notching 88 appearances. He made his test debut in 2015 and made 17 appearances for the All Blacks before his departure.
Rugby World Cup City Guides – Fukuoka:
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