A Match Thread

[WonkyWasp]

. Flippin' Ada  -  I did not expect that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Congratulations to  all concerned - you were spectacular.  We are all SO proud of you.  Thank you, Tom W  _ both of you!  Will Stuart -  eat your heart out - wrong choice/wrong team.  That was incredible .... the birth of 'New Wasps '   

[WaspsUpNorth]

Wonderful performance, playing the unfortunate circumstances to perfection.  Clear management on the field from Joe & Dan, only blip off it was asking Westy to hook after not playing or training there for 3 years!  Highlight was Robbo's throw over the back of the lineout!

[Shugs]

His first throw to the front was pretty interesting too! Agree about West. For me he is our best scrummager outside of Brookes. While scrums were contested he and Alo looked good.

[Raggs]

Turns out Thomas Young is our replacement lineout thrower...

[InBetweenWasp]

The highs and lows of being fans.  From the frustration of last week to the relief of this week, what a difference!

Tremendous guts, heart and spirit from the team today.  To lose some pretty key players.  We're lucky to have some decent strength in depth.  Tom Willis looks the real deal and didn't look lightweight against a huge Bath pack. 

Wouldn't be surprised to see the clearout that led to Young going off cited.  However, it's a really fine margin - For a fraction of a second Young goes to commit, but decides against it by which time the Bath player(s) assume he's committed and go for the clearout, but they catch him just as he's half ducking into it.

The whole dialogue Barnes had with Dave Bassett and then West was both slightly worrying and amusing

-- "Dave, have you got a replacement hooker who has actually hooked?"
-- "Yes, Tom West can fill in, he's played there before"
-- "Tom, Dave says you're ok to player hooker"
-- "Yeah, I'll give it a go"
-- "Woah, not give it a go.  It's a player safety issue.  Have you actually hooked before?"
-- "Well yeah, last time was about 3 years ago"
-- "Ok, so are you sure you're happy to hook competitively? It's a safety issue, if you feel uncomfortable we'll go to uncontested scrums"
-- "I don't feel comfortable"

Robson's first lineout couldn't have gone much worse!

Really pleased to see Umaga trying things and playing in a way we'd like him to rather than having gone into his shell after the Sale game. 

Trying to figure out the permutations for the last 4 rounds:

-- We've got Sarries (A), Tigers (H), Bears (H) and Chiefs (H)
-- Bears have got Warriors (A), Saints (H), Wasps (H), Irish (A)
-- Sale have got Tigers (A), Sarries (H), Bath (H) and Warriors (H)
-- Bath have got Quins (A), Warriors (H), Sale (A), Sarries (A)
-- Saints have got Chiefs (H), Bears (A), Tigers (A), Gloucs (A)

We've got a potentially horrible run-in, with Tigers the only likely victory the way Sarries, Bears and Chiefs are playing.  We might get lucky and get a Bears B team but think they'll target us with a full strength team.  Chiefs may also rotate all players to save themselves for the play-offs by the time we play them if they've cemented top position (they pretty much already have with a 14 point margin over Sale) - but the way their B-Team took apart Bristols A-Team doesn't fill me with confidence. 

Sale and Bath both have Warriors and also each other.  You'd think they'd both pick up 5 points against Warriors, then take 4 points from their game (although we can dream of a 3-3 draw in a very wet Manchester) and Warriors can be tricky opponents.

I don't think Saints will get much from their last 3 games - Tigers perhaps their major scalp.  Gloucs will want to go out with a bang and Chiefs and Bears will be wanting to solidify their positions for the next couple of rounds.

Bears perhaps have the easiest run-in.  You'd think even with a rotated team they'd beat Warriors and Irish, probably Saints and then have a full-strength team for us. 

Looking at the fixtures, I think 4th is all to play for between us and Bath.  Need to pray that Quins turn up at home as not sure we'll get much, if anything out of an away trip to Sarries with the likes of Lima, Taylor, Oghre and Young all likely out injured (perhaps not Lima) but you'd suspect Young and Oghre are out due to failing their HIA's and Taylor clearly crocked.  Hopefully it's a minor sprain, but he rolled it pretty nastily.

Jacob has played a fair bit of rugby as has Kibirige and Robson.  Launch, Wills and Shields all played the full 80 today in a bruising game, same with West and Fekitoa.  Tom Willis had a near full-on game too.

Nerves will be shot by the time R22 comes around!

[Neils]

Also got Quins away.

[backdoc]

Today's level of performance would beat Bristol, IMO, whatever team they play.

[Neils]

Interesting take on YY injury from Wales online- https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-international-thomas-young-hurt-18856869

[Raggs]

Only saw most of the first half, but Umaga was putting in some good defensive hits that I saw. OK, no Wilkinson smashes, but his channel was solid.

[SilverShire]

I would like to hold my hand up and say I was wrong about my choice not to pick Umaga in the time. He played very well once again!

[Heathen]

The C5 highlights were potted to say the least - about 3 minutes. Will have to watch the game when it goes online. It will be interesting to see what team Sarries put out next week.

[Neils]

The C5 highlights were potted to say the least - about 3 minutes. Will have to watch the game when it goes online. It will be interesting to see what team Sarries put out next week.

The EAs are building to Leinster soon after so will be strong to ensure they are ready.

[MarleyWasp]

Just about recovered from that match. Before the game I was chatting to a friend and we both felt this would be the kind of game that would so if we're a top 4 side or not.

Despite the rocky start I felt we were taking control of the game when Gaby went off. I was glad Tom West said he didn't feel comfortable hooking competitively. There's a time and a place to try that; away to an Italian club side or in the A League against a teenage front row. Giving it a try against one of the best packs in the League, even if we were getting one over them, was going to end in disaster.

One of my biggest frustrations with Wasps under Dai was that I never felt we adapted to circumstances as the game went on. Today we adapted excellently, unlike Bath who stuck to Plan A religiously. Mixing up our throwers at line outs between Chesty and Dan kept Bath guessing and meant that lineouts weren't the weakness I feared they'd be, ultimately leading to the penalty try.

The extra ball in play time played into our hands and I think we had the fitness to last longer, despite the lack of options to make changes.

Tom West certainly isn't playing like a fourth choice loosehead. Oghre I expect will be our first choice hooker before long. Both Willis brothers were excellent, as was Launchbury & Shields. Umaga bounced back well, Fekitoa is exceptional. Minozzi didn't take a backward step.

Only worries and frustrations are that Kibirige knocks the ball on going for kick offs too often for my liking, which makes me wonder how realistic his chances of catching the ball is. I do think Jacob needs to work on his handling a bit as he does tend to juggle the ball too often for my liking. Mills didn't do much, but it's tough for a playmaker to excel in our game. He will get better.

[Raggs]

Just about recovered from that match. Before the game I was chatting to a friend and we both felt this would be the kind of game that would so if we're a top 4 side or not.

Despite the rocky start I felt we were taking control of the game when Gaby went off. I was glad Tom West said he didn't feel comfortable hooking competitively. There's a time and a place to try that; away to an Italian club side or in the A League against a teenage front row. Giving it a try against one of the best packs in the League, even if we were getting one over them, was going to end in disaster.

One of my biggest frustrations with Wasps under Dai was that I never felt we adapted to circumstances as the game went on. Today we adapted excellently, unlike Bath who stuck to Plan A religiously. Mixing up our throwers at line outs between Chesty and Dan kept Bath guessing and meant that lineouts weren't the weakness I feared they'd be, ultimately leading to the penalty try.

The extra ball in play time played into our hands and I think we had the fitness to last longer, despite the lack of options to make changes.

Tom West certainly isn't playing like a fourth choice loosehead. Oghre I expect will be our first choice hooker before long. Both Willis brothers were excellent, as was Launchbury & Shields. Umaga bounced back well, Fekitoa is exceptional. Minozzi didn't take a backward step.

Only worries and frustrations are that Kibirige knocks the ball on going for kick offs too often for my liking, which makes me wonder how realistic his chances of catching the ball is. I do think Jacob needs to work on his handling a bit as he does tend to juggle the ball too often for my liking. Mills didn't do much, but it's tough for a playmaker to excel in our game. He will get better.

Kibirige's chase on restarts can lead to knock ons, but then it's often going to lead to a scrum and a clearing kick, not a great loss. If he knocks it back however, or catches, that's a huge bonus for us. I think it's worth it, especially with the pressure it puts on them, they can easily knock on too.

[Shugs]

One thing for us to work on are the restarts. In this match and others we pump the high ball to Kibirige who invariably knocks on. It's happened numerous times. Just a minor irritant!