WASPS ARE NOMADS... A PLACE IN YOUR HEAD AND HEART

Legend Dallaglio fired up to end 12 years of hurt and bring glory back to his beloved club

Premiership play-off semi final,KO 1.30pm

LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO has Wasps fired up to bring the glory days back to his beloved club.

Dallaglio’s old team are 80 minutes from the Premiership final after transforming their season since lockdown with eight wins out of nine.

They face Bristol at home today with a real opportunity to end 12 years without silverware since Dal laglio’s team won four Premierships (above right, with Fraser Waters lifting the 2008 Guinness Premiership trophy) and two European Cups in six seasons.

“It’s important for every club to be proud of its heritage,” said the World

Cup winner. “And for the players to recognise they’ve got an opportunity to build on it and be part of that legacy. Wasps is not a place like a lot of other clubs. It’s not Leicester, Newcastle, Bath or Bristol. We’ve been nomadic for a long time.

“We’ve e’ve had lots of different training ng grounds and stadiums. It’s always ways been about the people. e. And always will be. e. Wasps is a place that’s in your head and in your heart.” ”

Dallaglio laglio t h e play- ers of o f that when invited d into camp to give ve a motivational motivatalk talk not long after Lee Blackett reed reminded took charge with them languishing three from bottom in February. Blackett admits some of his stars are so young they “don’t even really know who Jonny Wilkinson is – they think he’s a commentator!”

But Dall Dallaglio’s rallying cry resonated resonated, , with p prop Kieran Brookes admitting: “Lawrenc “Lawrence definitely motiv motivated the lads. What he said about what it ta takes to win silv silverware, and ho how hard you h have to work, h hit home.” The team’s response has stunned even Dallaglio, who admitted: “If you’d said to me when we were 10th we’d finish three points behind Exeter at the top I’d have said you were ready for the nuthouse – 12 wins out of 14 since Lee took over, 10 try bonus points, averaging over 30 points a game, is quite something.”

But now for the big acid test. Bristol are a formidable proposition even without the injured Charles Piutau.

The midfield clash between Semi Radradra ( far left, running over Bordeaux’s Jean-Baptiste Dubie), and Malakai Fekitoa ( left), Wasps’ bone-crunching All Black, would be worth the admission money alone, if any fans were allowed in.

“Semi has taken the league by storm and I’m glad I don’t have to tackle him,” said Blackett.

“But with the firepower Bristol possess we can’t afford to make it about one guy.”