Sheep farmer Hislop happy fronting the Wasps herd
ROBBIE HISLOP’s superb form will come as no surprise to seasoned watchers of the Championship who have been aware of his allround qualities as a loosehead for years.
But even the 29-year-old Scot admits to being a little taken aback by how quickly he has become an integral member of the Wasps front row.
“It’s gone really well, I’m delighted with the amount of game time that I have had,” said the summer signing from Doncaster who was selected in last season’s Championship Dream Team.
“We have some quality looseheads so I just got my head down in pre-season. I am enjoying playing, long may it continue.”
Hislop enjoyed a short spell against today’s opponents, Saracens, as the 2019/20 season wound down.
“It was amazing,” he said of his first taste of the Premiership. “I was furloughed and twiddling my thumbs a little bit, and got an opportunity to go down there for eight weeks and absolutely loved it.
“The frustration for me was I was doing that week in week out for Doncaster and maybe wasn’t getting the recognition, where you go and play a couple of games for Saracens and do the exact same job, and you get loads of recognition.
“I did improve at Saracens, but I don’t feel like I was any different a player then as I was a few months before at Doncaster. Players at the top of their game in the Championship are really good players as we saw last weekend with Frosty (Dan Frost) who got his first start and was arguably our best player.”
Blackett admits the Chiefs game “took a lot out of the boys” and has shuffled his pack as a result.
There is an all-new starting front row, Tom West and Tom Cruse return to the side after injuries alongside Pieter Scholtz.
Nizaam Carr starts his first game since returning to the club while Ben Morris is at No.8. Debutant Sebastian de Chaves is joined in the second row by Tim Cardall.
Ali Crossdale starts at full-back against his old side and Matteo Minozzi makes his first appearance of the season on the wing.
Francois Hougaard also makes his first start for Wasps and Alex McHenry makes his debut at centre.
Hislop, the sleek-haired former sheep farmer with the work-rate of a border collie – who played under Blackett in an earlier spell at Rotherham – is on the bench.
Blackett said: “As soon as we could get a loosehead in, Robin was always one I wanted to go for, because of his character.
“He chucks himself into everything. He is all about the team and works so hard – he has improved us as a squad.”
One squad, however, that Hislop has missed out on is the Scotland squad.
Selected for the cancelled July international programme while the likes of Rory Sutherland were away, Dumfries-born Hislop hasn’t made the cut for the November Tests.
“It is everyone’s dream to play for their country so it was frustrating to not be able to do that in the summer,” Hislop said.
“The feedback has been positive but there are some quality looseheads in Scotland at the moment and I have just got to keep knocking at the door.”