BIG final for Covid-hit Wasps
ROBSON: POSITIVE MINDSET HAS BEEN KEY TO REGAINING TOP FORM AFTER ILLNESS
WHEN Dan Robson caught Joe Cokanasiga’s pass to score in England’s Six Nations rout of Italy in 2019, the world was at the scrum-half’s rapid feet.
The Wasps star had suffered the torment of touring South Africa in 2018 without making a Test squad. The joy of his belated Test debut against France the following spring was swiftly tempered by more frustration, as he watched on as Eddie Jones’ side surrendered their hopes of a Grand Slam in Cardiff.
Nine minutes after arriving from the bench at Twickenham and with England 27 points up against the beleaguered Azzurri, Robson’s trademark supporting line yielded his first international points. It was perfectly timed, as was his ascent into Jones’ thinking in a World Cup year.
One year, seven months and 15 days later, Robson today returns to that same stadium with Wasps to face Exeter Chiefs in the Premiership final with no further additions to his two caps earned last year.
Deep vein thrombosis cruelly struck the Stoke-on-trent native down when he was Ben Youngs’ main rival for the national No 9 shirt. Rather than preparing for a first Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland, he spent his 27th birthday in an operating theatre when survival, rather than a return to rugby, was prominent in his mind.
He didn’t play again for a further six months, and a brave late attempt to force his way back into the England reckoning for the tournament in Japan fell just short.
Robson’s early 2019/20 season form reflected Wasps as a whole: flashes of brilliance but overall, falling short of expectations.
The day before England kicked off their World Cup with a 35-3 win over Tonga, Robson captained Wasps to a 50-28 Premiership Cup home defeat to Saracens.
“The start of the season was pretty tough, to find some form individually and as a group,” he said.
“I think I put a lot of pressure on myself, I felt like I wanted to get back to the stage that I was before the illness. I felt like I just needed to play some games and get back in it and obviously it was a lot tougher than that.”
Wasps won just one of their opening five league games and just two of their first 10 front-line games and it was form that led to a period of introspection from Robson.
“I did struggle to find my form at the start and that was just something I had to get used to and just try and evolve my game a little bit and really look at games before I was injured and seeing what I was differently and how I could get back to that,” he said.
While medically discharged from his DVT issue, aside from wearing compression stockings on flights, the legacy of it remained prominent in Robson’s mind.
“A lot of it was just pressure on myself,” he said. “Perhaps a little bit through nerves because I was in the unknown a little bit. I didn’t know how the injury came about in the first place so is it going to come back again?
“I spoke to a few people and it was kind of like ‘if we don’t know the source and we don’t know what’s going on then why are you even worrying about it? You’ve got to go out there and play every game like it could be your last because you’re in a pretty fortunate position’.
“A lot of people go through what I went through and don’t get to play any top-level sport again and the fact that I’m playing top-level rugby is pretty awesome.
“I just flipped that into a positive
mindset and just really tried to start embracing it and enjoying my rugby again because we’re pretty fortunate in the fact I get to run out – or I used to – thousands of people and play rugby on a weekend.
“I think that was the big thing for me was that mindset; the change and just enjoying it and you know at the minute how could you not enjoy playing for this team.”
There’s a spring in Robson’s step, a smile on his face but a steely focus in his eyes as he spoke to the media from his Leamington Spa home just a day after learning Wasps could take their rightful place in the final that was under serious threat following a Covid19 outbreak within the camp.
“It’s obviously a bit of a challenging time for me personally and the way we are at the minute, it’s challenging times for everyone,” said Robson.
“It’s just another hurdle we’ve got to get over and the experience that I went through last season has definitely put me in good stead going into what’s pretty uncertain times.
The full impact of the outbreak was learned with yesterday’s team selection announcement as Brad Shields, Kieran Brookes, Simon Mcintyre and Alfie Barbeary were ruled out due to Covid-19 contact tracing protocols.
Robson, one of six survivors of Wasps’ last final appearance three years ago, believes his side have enough talent in reserve to seal the club’s first honour in more than a decade.
“I’m massively confident,” he said. “I think you know we’ve shown over this period of 10 games since the return that our squad depth is pretty awesome.
“I think everyone in the squad that’s put on the Wasps jersey has got us to this stage. It’s not just been a 23, 24, 25-man job. I think we’ve used 40, 42 players maybe something like that, so it has been a massive squad effort and I know anyone that will step into the jersey on Saturday will give absolutely their all.”