Saints Match Thread

[BrackenandMacken]

Lost shape once they sparked out our 10 and JdJ had to go to 12, unfortunately he's an out and out 13.

Saints were always just going to bosh off 9 when they went down to 13 (should have been 12) and our underpowered pack got schooled.

I have never seen a team get away with slowing the ball down as much as Saints, it was ridiculous at some points and made Dan and Jacobs life impossible.

Promising performance, we just need some fit second rows and props.

[Westy68]

What is the most irritating think for me is after the penalty try we didn’t get hold of the ball for more than 10 minutes against 13 men. That is really bad

[AKWasp]

No arms, shoulder to head-> red card
He was falling so could’ve understood a yellow and would’ve kept him off for the rest of the game

Biggest error there- all in the same phase of play so still valid to go back, would’ve been a pen 5m out instead of 50m.

[WickedWasp]

Hell of a fight back and showed lots of heart and some nice touches. Once again poor decision or errors by individuals cost us. Dan Robsons kicking and a few others was terible. Kicked out on full with scrum advantage a couple of times.

Gopps well I love him wish we could keep him playing forever.

Frustrating in the end as it could so very much have been a win in the end but I'd have taken this before the game. I think the last ten minutes certain players had emptied the tank and we lacked replacement second rows. Matthew's shot to the face I thought was bad and he didnt seem with it but run our lineout well. Also thought Flament played well but legs were tired towards the end. It was a lot to ask of certain players with Launch dropping out.

[Eezamarlowman]

Would be easy to moan about another loss, but hugely proud of the fighting spirit shown by the players to come back and lead in 2nd half. Much more like the Wasps I know and love. Couldn’t hang on for the win but take 2 bonus points so not the end of the World. A step forward the past 2 weeks, still many things to sort out but we must keep the momentum going. Puts us 20points ahead of the EA’s by my reckoning

[WickedWasp]

Yes, two losing bonus points... but my main question is, surely if there is straight contact to the head.... surely it shoudn't matter when it was, IF YOU MAKE DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE SHOULDER TO THE HEAD.. ITS A RED!

It shouldn't matter when it was, thats a red. Graham Hughes has bottled it.

Spot on. The ref did his best to bottle the red for Umaga in the air. It was embarrassing. He then almost missed the penalty try.

[SilverShire]

I'm disappointed we weren't able to hold on to the win after they went 2 men down but at least we move up a place in the table due to points difference.

Robson had flashes of playing very well and apart from about 10 mins of play so did Umaga, lets hope he isn't too badly injured. Willis and Young played very and West played very well for his first start. I also really like Minozzi, always shows he wants to run with the ball but doesn't run away from his support and didn't do much wrong in defence.

[13thWarrior]

Its very frustrating to lose from a 4 point advantage against 13 men. Having said that, overall I don't think we were the better team, the first 50 minutes we were pretty average. So I am not that gutted with only 2 points.

Also, I don't understand why Young was not yellow carded for his deliberate knock on? That was key, as it gave them field position from which they could just batter away with their big runners. Even with a 2 man advantage it just felt them scoring was inevitable.

As other's have said, there are positives, with Fekitoa improving game on game, Minozzi getting better, and Flament and Matthews growing into the team. So it does feel we are heading in the right direction. But we could be getting there faster without poor game management and silly penalties.

[Chunky24]

Saints were clinical, any missed tackle led to a try, last 10 minutes as soon as they had the penalty from the deliberate knock on even with 13 they knew how they were going to win the game directed by Biggar.
However considering particularly the missing props and locks the scrum was very solid and line out effective both in attack and defence. There is some spark starting to come in attack and some passes starting to stick, good spirit to come from 18 points down so plenty of positives for me but just a couple too many errors still to beat a very good saints team who I'll be around the business end of this season.

[Steve from Cov]

Probably the best Wasps have played at the Ricoh this season?
We should have taken all 5 points but 4 tries and 2 bonus points isn’t too bad.
We are far too good to be relegated.
When we get the big boys back we will be ok.
Congratulations to the youngsters West, Thibaud and Jacob - they were all excellent.
COYW.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I agree that there ae some very promising signs of what we could do.  But the fact is that yet again we threw away a game we were leading in.  This time with a 2 man advantage.

I think our defence is good, I think our set piece is as good or better than any in the premiership, and I think we are starting to click in attack.

However I think that as a team we constantly fail to make the right decisions on the pitch.  We don't manage he game, and after years of watching us fail hoping we'd finally manage to do it we repeatedly fail to close out games we should have in the bag.

I can cope with individual errors, like the dropped tackles. I can cope with individual errors of judgement made under pressure like Umaga kicking out on the full not knowing it had been carried back into the 22.  But I really struggle to watch us fail to manage the game, and as a team make the wrong decisions.

That all being said I have no idea what the answer is. Just that we aren't there yet.

[Little Potts]

Real mixed feelings about today. On paper, if you were a neutral and hadn’t watched the game, you’d look at that scoreline and say that Saints had a narrow escape. They’re second in the league and were taken to the edge by strugglers Wasps. It’s our pedigree that makes us so disappointed... 

Anyway, positives: not giving up and demonstrating some attacking flair. Negatives: feels like a missed opportunity. Balance: 2 points I didn’t expect us to get.

Next 4 (prem) matches are key - and I think we’ll win 3 of them

[Harry the wasp]

Well just got home and that's introduced me to a whole new experience - losing at home from a winning position to 13 men with 6 minutes to go. Didn't actually expect to win before the game but now I'm gutted.

[HDAWG]

Little Pots,

Reckon our targets are LI Tigers and Wuss, not a chance we'll beat Sarries. Out of the 3 winnable games I would say we'll win 1 or 2, but should win 3.

[Westy68]

Im sorry but I don’t think Our defence is good, a couple of very large Gaps. Also too slow of the line, which allows players to pick the gaps.

I still can’t believe we lost against 13 men, agree we didn’t deserve it, but when you are winning against 13 men, you don’t lose. Why didn’t we get an extra player at the break down, we had the numbers.

We do have some very good players, also some players still missing. West was really good today.

For me MLB has played is last game, still can’t believe we re-signed, Gopperth was miles better. Minozzi, still not convinced. 

We must invest in a 12, which we can’t do right now, so let’s play Lima or Gopperth. We have 2 games to try Lima at 12 let’s do it. I think he will do a lot better than MLB