Joe has the Launch code for Wasps
FORWARD’S RETURN FROM WORLD CUP IS CRUCIAL TO BLACK AND GOLDS’ FORTUNES AFTER SLOW START IN PREMIERSHIP
WASPS sit second bottom of the Premiership after suffering three defeats from their opening four games. Rugby reporter BOBBY
BRIDGE gives his thoughts on the opening block of games heading into the European fixtures that start with a trip to Bordeaux Begles this weekend.
TARGETS. Every rugby club sets them, not all reveal publicly as it often provides a stick to be beaten with. What would Wasps’ points gained goal have been for this opening block of four Gallagher Premiership games?
Home matches against London Irish and Bath, away tests at Gloucester and Sale Sharks. I’d hazard a guess that a 10-12 point return may have been written on any whiteboard discussions. A couple of home wins, then sneak a couple of bonus points on the road. Head into the European block of fixtures in a mid-table position and optimism in the air.
The reality, as Dai Young’s side prepare to board for Bordeaux and a return to the European Challenge Cup after missing out on the top tier competition, is very different. Four rounds in and five points have been recorded. Four of them gained from their only win against Bath while a losing bonus point was salvaged from the opening weekend home reverse to London Irish. Only Leicester Tigers spare Wasps the ignominy of heading abroad at the bottom of the Gallagher Premiership, albeit by just one point. The comfort at Welford Road comes in the form of a returning cohort of experienced stars from the Rugby World Cup. George Ford, Ben Youngs, Ellis Genge, Dan Cole, Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May improve them exponentially. That’s a lot of Premiership experience arriving in one go.
But what is Wasps’ reassurance things will get better? That results will improve and another season flirting with relegation doesn’t lie ahead? It’s too much pressure to lump on to the shoulders of Joe Launchbury. The towering lock made just one appearance in Japan with the Red Rose on his chest, but Wasps opted not to throw their captain back in against Sale Sharks while the likes of Exeter Chiefs did with the talents of Henry Slade, Luke CowanDickie and Jack Nowell. Not that it worked out too favourably for Rob Baxter’s side, shot down at home by those brilliant Bears from Bristol.
Launchbury is crucial to Wasps’ fortunes. They won six of the 11 games he started in last season (54.5 per cent), without him, the Black and Golds won only four of 17 Premiership and European matches for a 23.5 per cent win rate. Statistics only tell you so much, but in the England lock’s case, the numbers are compelling and hard to ignore. An immense player and leader. The kind of character you want in the trenches with you.
Other personnel boosts will come in the form of Thomas Young, a flanker many argue is of international quality, he just so happens to have emerged in an era of incredible open-side riches in the Land of the Valleys.
Young brings defensive energy, attacking threat and breakdown devil while also introducing more balance to the back row. The current combination of Brad Shields, Nizaam Carr and Sione Vailanu is struggling to strike the right chord with Carr in particular doing double shifts in defence, thus compromising his impact in offensive actions. Although as we saw against Sale Sharks, the South African’s engine and appetite burns brightly to play his natural game as he played a key part in Zach Kibirige’s wonder-try.
Within the ranks playing regularly there’s been encouraging signs that Lima Sopoaga’s positive words about taking the weight off and enjoying his rugby are bearing fruit. Against Bath and Sale we saw his attacking talents shine. He
In the England lock’s case, the numbers are compelling and hard to ignore. An immense player and leader.
could so easily have shrunk following that harrowing spill against Gloucester that his former halfback partner Joe Simpson so ruthlessly pounced upon to score.
Many X factor players have gone, stars who can score or create something from nothing, we all know that. In a couple of summers, Wasps have lost Danny Cipriani, Nathan Hughes, Christian Wade, Joe Simpson, Willie le Roux and Elliot Daly. Can you think of another Premiership team that has lost so many big stars in such a short space of time? Yet there is a resurgence in the stardust department.
Zach Kibirige’s three tries to date mark him out as Wasps’ most potent threat. His Superman reach against London Irish and the chip and gather at the AJ Bell Stadium were touches of class. Matteo Minozzi, while looking defensively vulnerable and shaky under a high ball, has shown in just two matchdays the elusiveness and attacking intent which saw him named in the Six Nations 2018 team of the tournament and earned his big move to England.
Wasps are scoring tries. Gloucester aside, they’ve looked threatening. Capable of striking a killer blow. But a failure to manage big moments has cost them dear, along with a crippling penalty count.
Bath and Sale Sharks between them could only muster two tries against Wasps. Both of those scores were eminently avoidable. Loosehead prop Zurabi Zhvania’s illadvised kick metres from his own line paved the way for Zach Mercer’s
try at the Ricoh Arena while Daniel du Preez’s five-pointer for Sale Sharks came seconds after Jimmy Gopperth’s pass was intercepted on halfway.
But neither side has needed to score tries galore. Across the two games, Wasps have shipped 36 points in penalties. But for some wayward Sharks kicks at goal, that could’ve soared into the 40s. A figure that is simply too high. Striking a better back-row balance with the likes of Jack Willis and hopefully, soon, Thomas Young, should see that swing back towards some kind of middle ground.
There are other issues that need addressing. The combination of Simon McIntyre, Tommy Taylor and Kieran Brookes is a formidable, all-English front-row combination brimming with Premiership experience. It’s in the second wave when Wasps appear to be struggling, with former All Blacks prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen receiving a baptism of fire into northern hemisphere rugby. It’s fine margins in the front row, perhaps now more than ever before. A referee’s interpretation, an opponent getting away with a bit skulduggery or even something as simple as a slip in the mud – the big Kiwi is not catching a break. I overheard someone suggesting the former Super Rugby star would benefit from a Tuesday night training session at Hinckley RFC and their bear-like pack for an evening of English winter-weather scrummaging to help fast-track his transition. It’s a little far fetched, but I see their point.
Whatever way Wasps achieve it (and I am sure they will), be it tweaking technique or a change of personnel, Wasps need that setpiece security for 80 minutes and not to taper off after the hour mark.
For two consecutive summers, Wasps outgoing talent outweighs the incoming. Experienced Premiership performers have departed to be replaced by Championship signings, a glut of Kiwis and, this season especially, more young players joining the senior squad. Thibaud Flament has been a revelation in the pack and Sam Wolstenhome, arguably Wasps’ fourth-choice scrum-half, has showed maturity beyond his years when called upon.
Young players emerging, big names coming in from abroad and those returning from lengthy injury spells all take time to reach the boil. These four European games sandwiching the one-off Premiership trip to Exeter Chiefs later this month could provide the perfect period for the right balance to be struck heading into the Christmas/ New Year league fixtures.