Watson leaving ‘unfinished business’ at Wasps
MARCUS Watson said he is leaving Wasps with ‘unfinished business’ as his contract reaches its conclusion at the end of this month.
The versatile winger/full-back scored 20 tries in 68 appearances for the Black and Golds after joining from Newcastle Falcons in 2017. However, that journey was brought to an end as the 30-year-old’s name was included in a list of Wasps players who were not being retained ahead of next season.
“I do feel like there was unfinished business for me to do at Wasps in some respects,” he said. “I feel like I’ve shown some nice glimpses of what I think I am capable of. I would loved to have shown more. At the same time, I think I played pretty well. There’s a couple of performances I am very pleased with, there’s a couple of times I’ve come back home and questioned myself. I look back at my time at Wasps fondly.”
While the public announcement was made only recently, Watson knew his fate many months ago as Wasps cut their cloth accordingly as clubs across the Gallagher Premiership make adjustments to stay under the shrinking salary cap.
“I got told with a decent amount of time, with salary cap issues etc,” he said. “I kind of got the feeling that was the main reason but you can never really be too sure about those things. That’s the impression I got. I can speak for quite a few of the boys out there without contracts at the moment, that’s probably what they’ve been told also. It’s the way rugby is at the moment.
“If the salary cap drops, some boys are going to have to be released. Because if you’re looking at it from a business side of things, the more expensive players will be deemed as the more important ones, your international boys are probably unlikely to take cuts, I don’t know, and other boys get squeezed. That’s what I think has happened to me.”
Watson, a former England and Team GB Sevens player, believes the
tightening of finances was a big contributing factor in him being among the estimated 100 top flight players to be looking for work after being released this summer.
“I maybe thought I was going to stay,” he added. “It’s never the best news for anybody, but, at the same time, the salary cap is out there for everyone to know. It is tough to take, because I probably think we would have a similar squad if the salary cap stayed the same. I’m 30, I’ve been around for a little while now when it comes to rugby. It’s not an easy market with how many people are available. Me and my agent have been speaking to a couple of clubs, there’s nothing completely set in stone.”