Honesty is best policy for Wasps, vows Carr
WASPS’ players shared a ‘honest, heart-to-heart’ chat free from the ears and eyes of coaches this week.
A run of one win in ten top-flight games has dumped Dai Young’s side out of Europe and seen them drop like a stone in the Gallagher Premiership ahead of Northampton Saints’ visit to the Ricoh Arena tomorrow.
With their next opportunity to pickup league points after this weekend not coming until the trip to Bristol Bears on February 16, Round 12 is a pivotal one in the Black and Golds’ season after suffering five league defeats in six games.
“We all had a heart-to-heart chat with each other,” revealed Wasps’ South African number eight Nizaam Carr. “We pulled in everyone without the coaches.
“We were honest with each other. And that’s important, the boys need to pull together, share what they’re feeling. Everyone’s opinion matters right now.
“We are a good bunch of mates and we don’t want to step on each other’s toes but it was nice and clear and honest and that was good going forward.
“Losing is tough.
When we win on Sunday, not if, when we win on Sunday, things will be turned around. It will be a be different mindset and people will be more excited to train, not worrying about the cold too much. Things change in a week, things can change in a day.”
Carr referenced previous experiences at former clubs Western Province and the DHL Stormers where similar heart-to-heart chats helped usher a turnaround in fortunes during challenging times.
The 27-year-old, who signed permanently at Wasps last summer following a fruitful three-month spell during the 2017/18 season, stressed that plenty was going on behind the scenes to turn around the club’s fortunes.
“It’s tough and losing is not easy,
everyone sees us as the easy team to play against now, teams do not fear us and we need to change that as soon as possible,” said Carr.
He added: “What we are definitely doing, what people do not see, is we are pulling tight together as a unit, as brothers, and making decisions together. But maybe a lack of concentration is costing us a few points and teams are realising that.”
While much of the criticism for Wasps’ shortcomings have fallen on the club’s management and coaching team, Carr believes the majority of the blame lies with the players for delivering just six points from six league games.
“The coaches are putting loads of work in and I see sometimes they are hurting in the way we are performing, only because they know what we can do and we’re not giving that to them.
A coach can only work up until a certain point and then the responsibility is on us. Sometimes coaches take a lot of the blame, I feel we have 80 or 90 per cent responsibility on how we perform.
“At the end of the day you are on the pitch, you have got the option to carry the ball, tackle and work hard, not the coaches.”
We were honest with each other. And that’s important, the boys need to pull together, share what they’re feeling.