Wasps will feed off last year’s hurt
Nick Verdier finds the new skipper in philosophical mood
Now one of the richest clubs in Europe, Wasps have assembled a star-studded squad and go into the new campaign as one of the favourites to win the Premiership – and newly-appointed captain Joe Launchbury reckons managing those expectations will be their biggest challenge.
The days when the club was on the brink of collapsing in 2012 seem light years away and the 2016-17 season could be the time to reopen a trophy cabinet that has not been touched since they won the Premiership in 2008.
They came close last season, reaching the semi-finals of both the Premiership and the Champions Cup, but it proved a step too far for a team still in development phase.
The arrivals of Danny Cipriani, Willie le Roux and Kurtley Beale will help them state their case again this season and Launchbury looks to the Saracens story as inspiration. They suffered heart-breaking defeats in Europe before claiming the ‘double’ last season.
Launchbury told The Rugby Paper:“It was disappointing to fall at the last hurdle but the overriding emotion was one of success. It felt like a missed opportunity at first but we had a great season.We now have to manage expectations.
“We don’t want to be a team that does well one year and is rubbish the next.We want to be challengers even if we know it’s becoming harder to do that because of how tough the league is becoming.
“Saracens have had great success the past couple of years but if you cast your mind back a few years they were losing those games.They took the hurt from those semi-finals and finals and they moved forward.
“That’s what we got to do now.We’ve got to enjoy those high pressure games and thrive on them.”
It was confirmed last week that Launchbury will take over from James Haskell as club captain but don’t expect him to go about his new job all gunsblazing and shouting the odds.
The 25-year-old doesn’t want to become “white-noise” and he’ll do his talking on the pitch like he’s always done since breaking into the first team in 2011.
He added:“I’ve been at the club for a long time and I couldn’t be more excited about being named captain this season. It means a lot to me and hopefully I can be successful in that role.
“I get along really with James Haskell and he’s done a fantastic job in previous years. Unfortunately he’s injured for the next few months but I’ll be leaning on his experience soon enough.
“I feel like I’ve been taking tips about how to be a captain for the past seven years whether that was at Wasps or with England with Chris Robshaw or Dylan Hartley.
“It’s so important to learn from these guys because I always wanted to be captain so I wanted to make sure I had a good idea of what to do should the opportunity arise.
“I’d like to think I’ve earned the respect from everyone in the squad over the years and I hope to continue to do that as captain. I don’t believe in talking for the sake of it because it’d just becomes white noise. There’s a lot of voices in a rugby team and it’s very important for me to speak only when I feel the need to.
“But I don’t want to be a passenger in the team. Performing is key for me and I want to be one of the better players on the pitch.”
While the arrivals of Cipriani, Le Roux and Beale will bolster an already exciting back line, Launchbury is looking forward to seeing hooker Tommy Taylor who joined from Sale.
“As a forward, I’m looking forward to playing alongside Tommy Taylor, who’ll be very good for us,” Launchbury adds. “He’s a dynamic, modern-day hooker.That’s something we needed. And Danny Cipriani is a big talent – the club has changed a lot since he left but we’re very happy to have him just like the other signings.
“Hopefully all 13 signings can buy into what we’re about.”
“We need to enjoy the high pressure games and thrive on them” -Joe Launchbury