Carr’s made a ‘stunning’ impression
WASPS director of rugby Dai Young has sung the praises of loan signing Nizaam Carr who has made a stunning impact at the club since arriving in November.
Carr has scored three tries in four black-and-gold outings and fans are keen to see the Springbok extend his stay at the Ricoh Arena.
“Nizaam is a quality player who brings physicality to both sides of the ball and a great work rate,” he said.
“He’s got the ability to get his hands on the ball, and the ability to get the ball away in contact.
“Nizaam has made lots of carries, not necessarily in the wide channels. Some were ‘every foot’ carries as I call them, into lots of traffic.
“If you look at his first try, he came from a great distance to get on the end of that pass and get his hands on the ball. WASPS captain Joe Launchbury has signed a new contract with the Aviva Premiership club.
The England lock has been an instrumental part of Wasps’ progress to the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter and semi-finals during the last three seasons.
Launchbury joined Wasps Academy in the 2009 season, made his Premiership debut against Leicester Tigers two years later and has since gone on to make 117 appearances in black and gold.
During that time, he has played a pivotal role in the club’s steady progress up the Aviva Premiership table, climbing from 11th to reach the playoffs in 2016 and the Final in 2017. Launchbury joins Elliot Daly, Tom Cruse, Ashley Johnson, Rob Miller and Alex Rieder in announcing contract extensions with Wasps in recent weeks.
The 26-year-old succeeded Matt Mullan and James Haskell as Wasps’ skipper last season and ended his first campaign at the helm by leading the team out at Twickenham, then going within a few seconds of lifting the Premiership trophy.
The 6ft 6in lock forward’s outstanding club form quickly brought him to the attention of the England selectors. He made his international debut against Fiji in the 2012 Autumn Internationals, going on to be named the 2012 Player of the Series, and then started all five fixtures of England’s Six Nations campaign. He was also part of England’s 2015/16 Six Nations Grand Slam winning squad. Launchbury has won 47 caps for his country and was man of the match during England’s recent Autumn series win over Australia, his fifth award in the Eddie Jones era. The Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, is understandably delighted that his captain has opted to sign a new deal with the club, saying: “We know a number of sides would have been keen for Joe to join them and it is a mark of his loyalty and belief in the squad we are assembling that he has put pen to paper to sign on again with Wasps.
“Joe has been with us for a long time and has stuck through the tougher times here. He has also experienced more recent times when we’ve been much more competitive and hopefully he can be around when we go the next step and achieve some silverware, which he deserves.
“During the time Joe has been with us, he’s developed from a club player into an international player and I believe he is now a world-class second row in his own right.
“He has grown with the added responsibility of the captaincy and he’s a really big part of everything we are about. Launchers will undoubtedly