I for one woke up in a much better mood this morning than I did last Sunday. It certainly felt like the Wasps of old last night and I never felt, even when Bristol went ahead with that joke of a penalty, that we were going to lose. The way we played in the second half made me feel we could find a way through their defence.
I spent much of yesterday in contact with Andy, an old neighbour from when I lived in Bristol, who is head coach for a club in Bristol. His criticism of Wasps last year was that there was a group with a culture where the next night out and money was the priority rather than winning, lead by Nathan. He feels Nathan has brought that culture with him and whilst there has been plenty of opportunities to do the flashy stuff so far, when the opposition turn up wanting to play and Nathan's clique need to work for the win they are found wanting and the lack of quality in the rest of the squad gets found out.
I can see what he meant last night. Nathan played like he did in the last two years he spent with us: did some flashy stuff, but made a lot of errors and became a stroppy brat. Piutau was another one who did some flashy stuff but was defensively caught out not even close to position in all but the last try where he failed to make the tackle. Madigan they've simply given up on.
Whilst last night was a significant improvement, there was still an element of Bristol underperforming and I don't expect us to beat Northampton. That said I do think we're on the right track.
Umaga has nailed down the 10 shirt, but needs the support of a good 12. Booj isn't that and I'm not sure Jimmy has the legs for anything more than a 10-15 minute cameo at the end of the match (I felt we started to stutter when he came on as a blood replacement for Minozzi against Quins). Juan doesn't suit our style playing at 12 and I don't think we'd be giving Jacob the support he needs if we played Spink at 12. I'd like to test out Lima there in the Challenge Cup matches and see what happens.
Fekitoa has been getting better and better each week. I think we forget how difficult it can be to move to a new country with a new style of rugby and fit in instantly. I do think he will get better and better in 2020. Same goes for Minozzi.
Whilst it's great to see Jacob coming through, I am concerned about how Billy Searle has fallen down the pecking order. Last season he was the future until his injury. I do worry given his omission from the last A League game that he is still suffering the effects of that injury. I do hope this Worcester rumour proves to be false though as he and Jacob could be the pair of 10s that takes us forward over the next 5-8 seasons.
That all said, I do continue to have concerns that some of our coaches aren't good enough and that Dai's time at Wasps has run its natural course and to progress both sides need to move on. I don't see us challenging for the playoffs again and Champions Cup qualification is the best we can hope for, for as long as Dai remains.
Always a Wasp
