Super scrum giving Wasps ace Lima the licence to test out defences
WASPS kept within sight of the runaway Gallagher Premiership early-season pace-setters Saracens and Exeter Chiefs with a thrilling 23-22 win over Newcastle Falcons on Friday night. Dai Young’s men were forced to defend a 22-phase attack with the clock in the red but held firm to secure a fourth win five games this season. Our rugby correspondent BOBBY BRIDGE tackled five talking points from the Black and Golds’ win at Kingston Park.
Austin Healey suffers commentator’s curse
Austin Healey knows a fair bit about rugby - but he got a call wrong on Friday night!
51 caps for England and a draw full of medals while at Leicester Tigers qualifies the BT Sports pundit to speak his mind and he didn’t hold back when criticising Wasps’ shape behind an attacking five-metre scrum in the last play of the first half at Kingston Park.
The former British Lion said full-back Rob Miller’s starting point behind the setpiece was ‘of little use’ because ‘you can’t get close enough to the ball.’
His last comment stated All Blacks star Beauden Barrett wouldn’t be standing so deep.
Plenty of laughter followed as it was Miller’s dart across the field that drew Sinoti Sinoti infield allowing Lima Sopoaga to put Marcus Watson in the corner with a basketball-style pass.
Social media was awash with comments mocking Healey’s bold call, but he took it in good spirits as he suffered a classic case commentator’s curse.
Packing a punch
What did all three of Wasps’ tries against Newcastle Falcons have in common? They all came from an attacking scrum. It’s becoming a theme of Wasps’ season, how powerful they are proving to be when eight pack down against eight. With front-foot ball almost a certainty, Lima Sopoaga is being given the licence to test out defences as proven by his lovely grubber behind Newcastle’s defence for Josh Bassett’s 12th-minute try. As mentioned above, it was from a scrum when Marcus Watson went over and finally, Juan de Jongh’s crucial try in the second-half once more can be traced back to a scrum. The scrum has been winning penalties at crucial times this season and so it proved once more as substitute prop Kieran Brookes got the better of his opposite number to win a 78thminute penalty that should’ve allowed Wasps to close out the game. Injuries to three front-line, experienced props has given the likes of Will Stuart, Zurabi Zhvania and Ben Harris the chance to push their names up the pecking order.
A case for the defence
The highlights reel and social media clips focused quite rightly on the sparkling footwork of Sinoti Sinoti to assist Mark Wilson’s try.
Along with Vereniki Goneva, the flying Newcastle wing duo beat 15 defenders during 24 runs that made a collective 139 metres for the Falcons.
This may paint a picture of Wasps’ defence being shaky, but the new fast-press defensive system was responsible for forcing a number of handling errors. With terriers Joe Simpson and Dan Robson leading the charge from the base, Newcastle were forced out of the Wasps’ 22 on seven occasions in the first half.
The line speed was also a factor as Falcons’ 22-phase play with the clock in the red ended in a forward pass.
Will Rowlands’ post-match comments conceded Wasps were learning and adapting to a new defensive system.
There’s still plenty to work on, but conceding just 35 points at Sale and Newcastle on the road is a decent return.
Will power prevails
Will Rowlands has started four of Wasps’ five games so far this season and his man-of-the-match display at Newcastle Falcons underlined how important he is to Dai Young.
In the continued absence of Joe Launchbury, the 6ft 8ins lock was a formidable presence at Kingston Park gaining 31 metres from nine energysapping carries.
It was the near 20-stone lock that topped Wasps’ defenders beaten column with five and he was equally as workman-like off-the-ball, making 15 tackles – bettered only by Nizaam Carr’s haul of 16.
Rowlands’ power is aligned with intelligent running lines as proven by his 10th-minute break after secondrow partner James Gaskell had also made significant ground.
With Kearnan Myall arriving from the bench, Charlie Matthews awaiting his next opportunity and Marcus Garratt battling to return from a serious knee injury, Rowlands is staking his claim to not only be Launchbury’s partner in crime, but the England man’s replacement when on international duty or absent with injury.
Winning becoming a good habit
A Tweet from Wasps fan Rob Sutton revealed that between Saracens, Exeter and Wasps, 14 matches have been won this year.
The other nine teams in the Gallagher Premiership have only managed as many between them – making Wasps’ narrow wins at Worcester and Newcastle all the more significant. The five-point gap from Exeter Chiefs may be bolstered by the Sandy Park club’s far healthier points difference, but close wins like these can prove crucial come the end-of-season play-off battle.
Wasps learned to their detriment last season how costly slender defeats can be, with single-point losses at Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers putting paid to their home play-off match hopes.
Significantly, Wasps have already won three times on the road with their next Premiership away match coming against Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens on November 17.
Winning while not hitting the kind of performance levels Dai Young craves is a good habit, especially when placed in the context of backto-back six-day turnarounds, a lengthy injury list and the necessity to rotate players robbed of a day off by midweek international training camps.
Wasps have already won three times on the road. Winning while not hitting the performance levels Dai Young craves is a good habit.