Wasps snap up forward Caulfield as their injury list grows
INJURY-HIT Wasps have signed Cornish Pirates second-row Josh Caulfield on a short-term loan deal.
With a number of players away on international duty and ruled out with injury after recent matches, the former Exeter Chief will provide much needed cover as the 23-year-old can line-up at lock and in the back-row.
The Former England Under 20 was dual registered with Pirates from Chiefs for four seasons, before making the move permanent back in May.
Wasps head coach Lee Blackett (right) said: “With some players unavailable to us, we needed to bring some muchneeded cover for the second-row and back-row positions.
“Josh has been an impressive operator in the Championship for a number of seasons now and we look forward to welcoming him to the club.”
But Blackett stressed short-term signings like Caulfield’s will not be at the expense of giving young players opportunities from within their ranks.
The 2019/20 Premiership runners up saw number eight Tom Willis and loosehead prop Ben Harris added to their growing list of unavailable players after both were substituted in the loss
at Gloucester. Blackett said yesterday that the pair will be out ‘for a fair amount of time’ with further details expected later in the week.
The Black and Golds only recently learned that back row Brad Shields could be out for up to eight weeks after damaging ankle ligaments and centre Sam Spink could be sidelined for three months with a foot injury.
They are in addition to the existing injury list that contains the names of Malakai Fekitoa (groin/shoulder), Ryan Mills (foot), Sione Vailanu (ankle), Rob Miller (knee) and Marcus Watson (groin).
Wasps continue to manage without a clutch of key players who are away on international duty with Joe Launchbury, Jack Willis and Dan Robson all now England regulars, while Matteo Minozzi (Italy) and Will Rowlands (Wales) have also been heavily involved in the Autumn Nations Cup.
Jacob Umaga has been a part of the England squad, then was released for the opening win over Bristol – but the 22-year-old is included in Eddie Jones’ squad for Sunday’s final against France.
“I think we’re going to have a look out there, we’re going to have to make sure we don’t get caught short,” said Blackett earlier yesterday. “We’re constantly looking if we need to get people in quickly, if we can get some loan guys.
“But if we’ve got a young kid who is coming through who we think is up to the standard, I’d rather give him the opportunity than bring in someone else, a 27 or 28-year-old from the Championship who is going to stop that.”