Wasps' fleet of wingers primed to fill Christian Wade's void

[Rossm]

Josh Bassett and Marcus Watson have plenty of competition for their shirts ahead of the new season

By Bobby Bridge:

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/rugby/wasps-rugby-news-christian-wade-16643941

It was really encouraging to see Marcus injury free, coming back to his best. I'm most interested to see Callum Sirkar but I don't expect him to have a start in any of the GP fixtures, unless injuries decimate our squad 

[BG]

On the whole the squad looks a lot more balanced and more importantly bigger. A good mix of young blood coming through the ranks and seasoned professionals.

I also think bringing Gleeson in may re-invigorate the coaching staff as well, as having little or no union experience he will have a fresh pair of eyes on things.

It will be interesting to see how Dai approaches the first premiership cup games. Will he field the same type of match day squad like last season of mainly "A" team players with a few 1st team players or will predominantly field his 1st team which most clubs don't do during a normal season.

[Chunky24]

On the whole the squad looks a lot more balanced and more importantly bigger. A good mix of young blood coming through the ranks and seasoned professionals.

I also think bringing Gleeson in may re-invigorate the coaching staff as well, as having little or no union experience he will have a fresh pair of eyes on things.

It will be interesting to see how Dai approaches the first premiership cup games. Will he field the same type of match day squad like last season of mainly "A" team players with a few 1st team players or will predominantly field his 1st team which most clubs don't do during a normal season.

Would have thought the first 3 prem rugby games will be everyone in squad gets a game in various combinations and then the 4th one will be not far off the team for the first prem league game.

[Shugs]

Our wing options are strong this year. If Watson holds the form he had from the Tigers game onwards there are few better combinations in the league than him and Bassett. Backing that up we have Sirker, Kibirige, Odogwu and even Minozzi. None of them have the flair of a Wade but as a unit it's stronger.

[backdoc]

I thought Bassett was ineffectual for most of the season - clearly his situation had changed, with no Wade to attract defences and no Cips to provide killer distribution.

[Heathen]

Hopefully with a much stronger midfield this season, he will get the ball in space far more often.

[Shugs]

I thought Bassett was ineffectual for most of the season - clearly his situation had changed, with no Wade to attract defences and no Cips to provide killer distribution.

I think you have to take into account he got very little service that wingers thrive on and was ridiculously overplayed. He played in 85 per cent of our games. With the options we've got next year we should be able to rotate him out a lot more.

[RogerE]

and also this year we should be able to deploy wingers as opposed to centres playing as wingers, so with more pace available on both wings should cause defences more problems

[westwaleswasp]

I think we may see Vellacott (SP?) covering wing from the bench from time to time too.

[mike909]

I thought Bassett was ineffectual for most of the season - clearly his situation had changed, with no Wade to attract defences and no Cips to provide killer distribution.

I think you have to take into account he got very little service that wingers thrive on and was ridiculously overplayed. He played in 85 per cent of our games. With the options we've got next year we should be able to rotate him out a lot more.

I thought that too - he wasn't alone in being overplayed - but really never got the ball often enough in dangerous situations

[BG]

Basset is the type of winger that doesn't create his own space (in a similar way that Watson abd Wade can by use of  side-step or use of acceleration), he tends to need to be ut into space but then has serious long distance top end speed

[AKWasp]

Fully agree, give Bass a sniff and he’ll finish it- proved that against the Baa-Baas, Wade and Watson can create something out of nothing (as well as finishing when given slight opportunity, but different types of opportunity to Bass, less power based)

I think Kibirigie and Sirker are more in the Watson style and Odogwu is maybe somewhere in the middle.

With all these options I think we can put out a team to suit playing each opposition.

In respect to Bass, he was just burnt out from playing lots more than he should’ve done- he lost his edge. With a long break and more rotation I’m sure we’ll see him back at his try-scoring best

[backdoc]

His circumstances changed, no doubt. He is a class finisher. Let's hope the whole scenario has changed, and he can exploit space as he did 2-3 seasons ago.