Wasps ace is still battling for deal
WASPS’ two-try star against Leicester Tigers, Marcus Watson, is understood to be one of a handful of players still battling it out for a new deal at the club.
The 27-year-old lit up Welford Road with tries in the eighth and 30th minutes during Wasps’ controversial 19-14 defeat.
Having collected a Willie le Roux pass from close range to dive over for his first score of the afternoon, it was his breathtaking second that set pulses racing.
Again it was South African le Roux who provided the assist, collecting a Sam Harrison box kick deep inside his own half before releasing to Watson. The former Newcastle Falcons flier side-stepped devilishly between Kyle Eastmond and George Worth before out-pacing the covering Jonah Homes to score in the same corner.
Former Wasps team-mate Danny Cipriani shared a video of the second try with the caption ‘unbelievable finish! What a talent.’ It was the GB Sevens Olympics Games silver medallist’s fifth try in nine games this season.
But the Telegaph understands Watson’s contract is up this summer following an injury-interrupted twoyear spell with the Black and Golds.
Since arriving from Kingston Park for the start of the 2017/18 season, Watson has made just 22 appearances, with 16 of them being starts.
Following Christian Wade’s shock departure to play American Football in October, a gap opened for Watson to become a firstteam regular partnering Josh Bassett on the wings.
But a grade two groin tear against Northampton Saints in mid-November saw him miss Wasps’ next eight games as centre Ross Neal, signed from Championship club London Scottish last summer, was given a run in the 14 shirt. It followed a similar pattern to Watson’s first season at Wasps where he made a steady start before missing two months due to injury towards the end of 2017. He was recapturing his try-scoring form with back-to-back tries against Leicester Tigers and Exeter Chiefs in February 2018 before suffering an Achilles injury in the latter of those two games that ended his season. Speaking after the game, Wasps director of rugby Dai Young praised his winger’s contribution, but set in the context of his stopstart Wasps career.
“It was a fantastic try,” said the Welshman. “That’s been the frustration with Marcus for most of the season, we know he’s got that in him but getting him out on the field and basically being able to put a couple of games, back-to-back, and show us what he can do. We can see what he can do there, but the opportunities have been few and far between because of these unfortunate injuries he keeps picking up.”
Young has previously stated he wanted to add a winger, centre and a full-back to his squad and the recent acquisition of Italian international Matteo Minozzi covers two of those bases, with full-back being his primary position.
Wasps’ squad ahead of next season is beginning to take shape with six out-of-contract players penning new deals in the form of Tommy Taylor, Juan de Jongh, Jimmy Gopperth, Ashley Johnson, Ben Harris and Simon McIntyre.
Out-of-contract stars Nathan Hughes, Jake Cooper-Woolley, Joe Simpson, Will Stuart and Willie le Roux have confirmed their exits while Elliot Daly triggered a clause in his deal to engineer a move to Saracens.
Wasps boss Young previously said around a third of his players were out of contract this summer, based on the squad size that would equate to around 14 players – meaning around three or four senior players are still playing for a new deal at Wasps or a move elsewhere.
We can see what he can do there, but the opportunities have been few and far between because of these unfortunate injuries. Dai Young