WASPS AGONY
SUPERSTAR TRIO SIDELINED FOR AT LEAST A MONTH
WASPS director of rugby Dai Young is expecting star players Nathan Hughes, Jimmy Gopperth and Elliot Daly to be out for at least a month after all three suffered injuries against La Rochelle on Sunday.
Fly-half Gopperth and No.8 Hughes are both sidelined with Medial Collateral Ligament strains to their knees while back Daly is suffering from an ankle twist.
England international Hughes had only just returned from a knee injury suffered on international duty with loan signing Nizaam Carr taking his place during the Autumn internationals. Young has said they will know more about their expected lay-off time later in the week.
“The club doctor had a look at them and felt it was necessary to get MRI scans on them,” he said, “the scans came back and it doesn’t look like particularly good news.
“Anything that happens with Elliot’s ankle he’ll have to through a rehab process. It’s whether they have to go in with a surgical intervention, and that’s why he’s going to the consultant.
“It’s the same with the knee injuries pretty much. You can have different grades of injuries. The best picture is four weeks but it could be as much as 12 if they have an operation.
“The three of them didn’t look great on Monday. We sent them for a scan and the scan has backed up that they have got significant injuries.”
Young pointed to the festive schedule as a particularly tough time for squads, with Wasps facing three of the top four in as many weeks.
“Without a shadow of a doubt Christmas is tough,” he said, “you have guys coming out of Autumn Internationals into Europe, into big games again.
“It’s hard on the squad, we try and rest people when we can. We will change our squad up a little bit with guys who are on the bench starting.
“We certainly could have done with those three being available but you have to get on with it. It’s a very physical, demanding game and players are going to pick up injuries. Sometimes, it’s just that little bit of luck where you can go long periods without lots of injuries and then you have a spate of them. This season has been the worst for a couple of seasons for injuries for us.”
In better news for the Wasps boss, several players are expected to return in the next few weeks, with Guy Thompson and winger Josh Bassett in line to return this weekend against Gloucester.
WASPS A scored 70 points and 12 tries to complete the double over Sale Jets at a foggy Ivor Preece Field.
Owain James grabbed a double with ten other scorers also touching down, including academy prospect Jacob Umaga and summer signing Marcus Watson, while Jets could only respond through Mane Nabetelevu’s double.
The bonus-point win sees the blackand-golds’ second string climb over Worcester Cavaliers in the A League’s Northern Conference to fourth, with Sale now ten points adrift at the bottom.
Wasps won the reverse fixture 12-22 in September and they got off to the best possible start when Watson touched down in the corner.
They added to their lead soon after when Connor Collett got on the back of a powerful driving lineout to touch down for a score which Umaga converted.
He also upgraded when James broke through three tackles on the left wing to claimed his second try of the A League season.
Former London Irish man Guy Armitage took the hosts past the 20-point mark after captain Craig Hampson broke off the back of a scrum and Umaga again slotted the conversion.
Coventry winger Kwaku Aseidu got in on the try-scoring act five minutes later when he held off two tackles following good hands by Watson.
Wasps were playing some great rugby and it was Hampson who claimed the hosts’ final score of the half after a fantastic offload from Umaga who also stepped up to convert.
But Sale Jets had the final say of the first period when Nabetelevu went over in the corner after some neat handling.
It took Wasps just one minute after the break to extend their advantage when former Bristol man Hampson and Umaga linked up to set up Cal Smith who kicked ahead and finished with his fingertips.
Replacement hooker TJ Harris then broke through the Sale defence and after going through several phases Cameron Gray went over in the corner and Sam Allen converted.
Harris, who scored in September’s win, was becoming a handful for the tired Jets defence and he held off two tacklers after James’ break to take Wasps to the half-century mark.
Sale winger Nabetelevu then picked up a loose ball to score under the posts to leave Charlie Reed with an easy conversion.
But Wasps hit back three minutes later when James applied a good finish to a neat passing move between Umaga and Smith. Wasps were then held up on the line and Gaby Oghre was powered over from the resulting scrum.
Their last try was another moment of real quality.
Brendan Macken fed James, who offloaded to Smith and Umaga capped a fantastic performance by going under the posts unopposed.