Duo set to miss NINTH consecutive match with injuries as Wasps boss admits it’s becoming a CAUSE FOR CONCERN
FORWARDS Simon McIntyre and Tommy Taylor are set to miss their NINTH consecutive Wasps match this weekend against Bath.
Prop McIntyre and hooker Taylor, who both recently signed contract extensions in December, have not featured since the Premiership Cup defeat to Bristol Bears on November 11.
“Tommy Taylor and Simon McIntyre are very unlikely to figure this week, fingers crossed for next week,” said Wasps director of rugby Dai Young.
“But we’re in the lap of the Gods with that and when they’re symptom free. Then they have to go through the stages and if they don’t feel quite right they have to go back.
“It’s been a long time now, about nine weeks, so I’m starting to get a bit more concerned about that if I’m honest with you.
“They’re both getting closer but with a six-day turnaround it doesn’t look like they’ll be ready this week. Maybe they’ll be fit for next week or the week after, I don’t know.”
Elliot Daly is not being considered for selection after his mandatory rest week, which originally was due to be taken between Gallagher Premiership Rounds 9 and 12, was rolled over into Wasps’ Heineken Champions Cup campaign with England head coach Eddie Jones’ permission.
Long-serving scrum-half Joe Simpson, who scored a try and made four assists when Wasps hosted Bath in the reverse Heineken Champions Cup fixture in October, is still ‘a couple of weeks away’ from returning.
The 30-year-old injured his knee against Northamp- ton Saints in November, missing his club’s last seven games.
Young confirmed a ‘very good team’ would be heading to The Rec, despite Wasps’ exiting the competition after failing to win in the opening four rounds.
“We can only pick from our squad, we can’t really rest our guys,” said the Wasps boss.
“We’re going to be sensible though. So if someone’s carrying a bump, we won’t risk them being out for a few weeks because that block of four Premiership games is huge for us.
“That’s the same for everyone at the minute, with the league being so condensed. We’ll go down there with a very good team because we’d like to put up some good performances.
“Get some results along the way as
It’s been a long time now, about nine weeks, so I’m starting to get a bit more concerned about that if I’m honest with you. Dai Young
well, that’s the important factor, but also being sensible as well, not risking further injury to some players.
“So some of our bench may start but we’ll decide that as we go through the week, but we’ll certainly want to keep performances on an upward curve.”
Young also gave updates on a group of his long and medium-term injured players.
He said: “Jack Willis we’re hoping to have fit for the Premiership block of games. Whether he’ll be fit for Worcester (Premiership Cup fixture on Sunday, February 3), I’m not quite sure.
“The next couple of weeks will determine a lot because he’s starting to run now.
“We’re confident he’ll figure at some point in that block, at what point I’m not quite sure.
“We’ll certainly have Tommy Taylor, Simon McIntyre, Jack Willis and Joe Simpson back by then. But we won’t see either of them in Europe, they might sneak into the Premiership Cup.
This is when Jack Willis could make his Wasps return
“But after that they should be available.
“We’ve still got Alex Rieder, Marcus Garratt and Matt Mullan out till March.
“At least the big picture is looking far rosier for us.
“Kieran Brookes has had his operation so is out for 12 weeks.
“But we’ve got a few back now and Jimmy [Gopperth] will be around that March period.
“If we can get those four back without losing anymore I think we’ll be pretty happy.”