FAF DE KLERK
We must draw a line under Steve Diamond’s exit and look to future
WASPS will again unleash their youthful No.8-9-10 axis of Alfie Barbeary, Will Porter and Charlie Atkinson as they aim to build on momentum gained from Heineken Cup wins over the Dragons and Montpellier to fire-up their Premiership campaign.
Last season’s Premiership finalists spluttered at the start of this season, largely down to an injury list that once more sees Joe Launchbury, Jacob Umaga, Malakai Fekitoa, Brad Shields, Jack Willis and Ryan Mills miss out. However, in Barbeary they have one of the finds of the season while Porter and Atkinson distinguished themselves last week against a forceful French side.
Head coach Lee Blackett said: “The most pleasing thing about our last two European games is how the young kids played. We’ve gone away to Dragons, given a first Heineken Cup start to Charlie Atkinson and got a good win there, and then I thought our young 8-9-10 combination stood up really well against Montpellier.
“Dan Robson will come back into the squad but Will
Porter, Charlie and Alfie all start again. We’re missing some leaders at the moment and hopefully they’ll all be back within a month, but it’s great experience for these guys and we’ve unearthed a few gems from our academy.”
With Barbeary shooting to national prominence following a recent England call-up, Blackett says of the 20-year-old, who is a hooker by trade: “It’s sometimes difficult when a young kid comes through and gets a load of publicity before they’ve really played a game. But he’s delivered, although there are lots of areas in his game that he can keep on improving.
“Hookers generally come through a lot later, so if we just concentrated on him playing there, he probably wouldn’t have played in the Premiership yet.
“Throwing is a massive part of it and we’re working really hard with him on that because his aspiration is to play for his country, but in the meantime we’re putting part of our game around him at No.8. His ball carrying is pretty special and his lateral movement is very good as well, which gives him the opportunity to make offloads.”
With today’s match at Sale being closely followed by clashes with Exeter and Bath, Blackett is keen to make up lost ground. He added: “Sale did the double over us last season so we know how difficult they are. They’re a bit like Montpellier – very confrontational, physical and in your face – so the challenge for us is to impose our game.
“The first few weeks of the season didn’t go so well and it was disappointing how many errors we made, but we’ve been quicker over the last fortnight and I’m pleased to be taking momentum into this game.”