Joe’s smokin’ as Wasps bid to launch new era
IT HAS been a manic summer for Joe Launchbury, his phone has hardly stopped ringing. Part of England’s whitewash tour to Australia in June, the Wasp was given an extended break — but it has hardly been restful with all the goings-on at his club.
‘Dai’s been busy!’ he quips when asked about the hive of activity at the Ricoh this summer. Director of rugby Dai Young certainly has. Thirteen outgoings and 13 incomings to send pulses racing — a host of stars Launchbury is trusted with leading, having been made captain.
‘Dai has signed some great players,’ said Launchbury. ‘The fact that we can attract guys like that means a lot. We like to play a very attacking style of rugby and those guys are only going to add to that.
‘Danny Cipriani, Kyle Eastmond, Kurtley Beale and Willie le Roux are four guys coming into the backline who are very exciting. They like to get the ball in their hands and play.
‘We are a team who want to throw the ball around and score tries, that’s important and it does succeed, but we will make mistakes too. But if we have a set piece that is up there with the best that will stand us in good stead.
‘We understand the expectation on us now, we understand the increased hype around the club but, as players, I don’t think we have lost sight of where we have come in a short space of time. Where we were a few years ago to where we are now is incomparable really.’
They were hours from bankruptcy in 2012, but an injection of cash and a move 100 miles north and Wasps are now dining at the top table of English and European rugby once again, with many expecting them to be Saracens’ toughest adversary this year.
But Launchbury would not fan the flames before today’s opener against Exeter.
‘Probably three or four years ago Saracens did what we did and finished in the top four — but were losing those big games,’ he said.
‘But they then learned from those experiences and built from within and created a really strong group of English players and won those big games. We are at level one of that stage.’