Wasps Will take game to Tigers, says Jack
JACK Willis has urged his Wasps teammates to ‘take the game to Leicester Tigers’ in tomorrow’s local derby.
Nothing but local pride is at stake for the black-and-golds in the AngloWelsh Cup encounter at the Ricoh Arena following last weekend’s 66-7 thumping loss at London Irish.
Only ten regular-season games remain for Dai Young’s side, and Wasps need a win to avoid suffering a fourth defeat in five games across all competitions.
“It will be a physical game against Leicester,” said back-rower Willis.
“They will be going for it, especially at our place. I imagine there will be a lot of fans down, so there will be a great atmosphere. I am looking forward to it.”
While the Anglo-Welsh Cup doesn’t carry the same gravitas of an Aviva Premiership or a European encounter, Willis insisted the rivalry remains prominent – alongside the collective desire to win.
“I don’t think that rivalry ever drifts away really,” said Willis.
“That’s always at the forefront of the game. That has been the talk going into the weekend in the build-up. You imagine that will be from both sides in the build-up, not just us, so you’ve got to prepare for it.
“We will want to defend and have pride in our defence especially at our home ground. We want to go at Leicester, and really take the game to them. Be physical and make sure we bring that extra 10 per cent.”
Willis senior was in the stands at the Madejski Stadium a week ago when London Irish ran ten tries past an inexperienced Wasps side captained by his younger brother Tom.
“It was a blow,” said 21-year-old ‘big brother’ Jack.
“There was quite a few players rested. It’s been quite a gruelling season with a lot of injuries within our squad. You can only play players a certain amount of weeks on the bounce before they start to fatigue, so, I think a lot of players needed that break, needed that rest, we tried out some younger lads, they will learn from that.
“Irish went full strength so it was always going to be a tough day, but we built that into training ahead of Sunday and that’s the focus now.”
I don’t think that rivalry ever drifts away really. We will want to defend and have pride in our defence especially at our home ground.