Brad: We will keep heads high after Euro exit agony
WASPS will ‘stay tight and keep their heads high’ after their agonising Heineken Champions Cup exit.
That is the view of back row Brad Shields after Clermont Auvergne scored deep into injury time to level the scores before Camille Lopez’s conversion secured a 27-25 victory for the visitors to the Ricoh Arena.
It was a third time in as many home games that Wasps took a lead into the final five minutes but ended up losing as Billy Twelvetrees and Robert Du Preez held their nerve to kick Gloucester and Sale Sharks to their respective 20-19 Gallagher Premiership victories at Wasps’ expense.
Prior to that, Wasps’ late agonies on their home patch hinged on late surges to win from behind that came up just short against Northampton Saints and London Irish.
Since losing heavily to Harlequins in late January, the average margin of defeat across the five Ricoh losses has been just three points.
“If you look back over the last few weeks, this is probably the first game in a while where we’ve been under the pump at the end,” said Shields.
“The rest of the other games we’ve been down the other end fighting for a score to win the game. We let teams off the hook a little bit with a couple of penalties here and there and that gets us on the backfoot.
“At the same time, we want to be team that can fix those moments and be better in those big moments.
“That’s probably the trend, so if we can dig ourselves out of a hole, and keep fighting, we will stay tight and keep our heads high, because we know, on one side we lost and we’re gutted but the performance was much better.”
England international Shields has been an ever-present for Wasps during a testing period when they have lost eight of 10 games to fall 14 points off the top four and exit Europe.
“It was pretty gutting to say the least,” said Shields, reflecting on the post-match changing room atmosphere.
“A bit of silence was there for a while as we gathered our thoughts.
“It’s twofold really. One you’re losing in a knockout in Europe when you’ve put a bloody good fight up, which we’re really gutted about, the other side our performance was much better than what it has been and more or less where we want to be as a group.” Wasps now have a weekend free from action before returning to the Gallagher Premiership with a trip to the reigning champions
Exeter Chiefs on Saturday week.
“The beauty of rugby is there’s always a game next week and a chance to get better during the week,” said Shields.
“We’ve got a week where there’s no game, so we’re going to use that to the best of our ability to come into the next round of the Prem and really try as a group to be where we want to be.”
If we can dig ourselves out of a hole, and keep fighting, we will stay tight and keep our heads high.
Brad Shields