Wasps hope that Haskell avoids ban despite red card
Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, hopes James Haskell’s disciplinary record will count in his favour when the England flanker appears at a disciplinary hearing this week after his red card in this defeat that leaves his side’s Champions Cup campaign in jeopardy.
Haskell faces a ban that could put his participation in the start of the Six Nations in doubt after he was sent off in the 76th minute for a dangerous tackle to the head of Quins centre Jamie Roberts.
Haskell has a relatively unblemished disciplinary record, having served just five weeks in bans during his 16-year career – for a butting incident in 2008 and punching in 2012. Combined with his apology to Roberts on social media on Saturday night, it is likely to help him when sanctions are considered.
World Rugby guidelines state that the entry point for suspensions for dangerous tackles to the head is six weeks. Young admits a ban is likely but expects mitigating factors to be taken into account. England’s Six Nations campaign starts against Italy in Rome on Feb 4.
“I haven’t had time to really look at the tackle, but if it’s a shoulder to the face or head, he will get banned. You can’t hide away from that,” said Young. “There was certainly no intent, he just tried to get off the line to shut the pass down. There wasn’t much wrong with the timing. It’s where the shoulder makes contact, and that will determine whether he gets banned or for how long.
“His track record should go in his favour, but only time will tell. James is really disappointed. He stood up and apologised to the player straight away.”
Of more immediate concern to Young are the defensive woes that allowed Harlequins to clinch a stunning victory with a late try by James Chisholm, which all but ended Wasps’ hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.
Ulster, who travel to the Ricoh Arena, top Pool One after their 20-13 victory over La Rochelle at Ravenhill on Saturday and appear to be in a head-to-head with the French side to secure the automatic qualifying place. The only hope for Wasps is to defeat Ulster with a bonus point, while denying the Irish side a bonus point, to have a chance of qualifying as one of the three best-placed runners-up.
Young and his captain, Joe Launchbury, conceded that their European campaign was over, even if it remains statistically possible, and it appears his main focus this week will be to attempt to fix his side’s defensive frailties.
He said the lack of defensive commitment eventually found his side out as they failed to defend a 21-point advantage after first-half tries by Kyle Eastmond, Nizaam Carr – while Lewis Boyce was in the sin bin – and Ashley Johnson. Quins, with a vastly under-strength side, were able to respond with tries by Ross Chisholm and the excellent James Lang but Wasps looked to have won the game again when Brendan Macken crashed over for the bonus-point try midway through the second-half. The introduction of Marcus Smith, the 18-year-old fly-half, as a replacement for Mike Brown, who went off with blurred vision, changed the shape of the game, and tries by Danny Care, Elia Elia and James Chisholm capped a sensational comeback. “We are not making teams work hard enough for their points,” Young added. “The game should have been out of sight. It is a problem. Teams have been scoring try bonus points against us. It is not good enough. “If you want to be one of the best teams in Europe and in the Premiership, saving a try is just as important as scoring one.”