Times Report

[Hymenoptera]

Barbeary lives up
to hype for Wasps


There are not many players who have a
reputation as the next big thing in
English rugby before they have started
a Gallagher Premiership game. Maro
Itoje was one, Billy Vunipola another.
Owen Farrell, too. Alfie Barbeary has
carried such expectations since he was
at Bloxham School, Banbury, and, as he
proved at the Ricoh Arena yesterday,
with very good reason.
An abrasive, ball-carrying hooker,
the 19-year-old was deployed in the
back row for his first Premiership start
against the Leicester Tigers’ second
string. Barbeary responded to the
challenge with a 16-minute hat-trick
and an assist as Wasps demolished their
fierce local rivals in record fashion.
The only other player in Premiership
history to have scored a hat-trick on his
first start was Lesley Vainikolo. Having
fended off five defenders to score off
the bench against Worcester Warriors
on August 21, Barbeary now has four
tries in only two Premiership appearances.
It was more than just the scores that
marked out his performance as special;
it was the way he dominated the
contact with his body position, it was
his skills with the ball in hand, including
an offload to set up Zach Kibirige for the
last of Wasps’ eight tries as they racked
up 54 unanswered points; the most
Leicester have ever conceded in the
league. “It was like being punched in the
face several times,” Geordan Murphy,
their director of rugby, said.
Wasps know they have a special
of his age, it takes time to come through
in the front-row positions,” Blackett
said. “We’re trying to manage him by
picking him in the back row. We wanted
to get him out there to experience the
Premiership but we’ll keep working on
the hooker side of his game.”
The victory keeps Wasps ahead of
Bath in the race for the fourth
semi-final place. Leicester’s inexperienced
team, captained by Ellis Genge,
did control the opening quarter and led
Barbeary lives up
to hype for Wasps
02
Gallagher Premiership
Alex Lowe
Deputy Rugby Correspondent
1 0
Wasps
Leicester Tigers
54
7
talent on their hands in Barbeary. “As
an out-and-out rugby player, he’s pretty
good,” Lee Blackett, the Wasps head
coach, said. “He’s a big project. He’s a big
talent, there is no doubt about that, but
there are plenty of areas of his game he
needs to keep working on.”
Wasps have visions of using the
England Under-20 international as a
dual-position player in the mould of
Ashley Johnson, who also played
hooker and back row for Wasps.
Barbeary sees himself as a hooker.
“He’s a young kid and with someone
7-0 courtesy of Cameron Henderson’s
try but Wasps found a route into the
game through their scrum and lineout.
First Malakai Fekitoa cut a superb
line for a converted try and then Tom
West put Wasps ahead from another
lineout inside the Tigers’ 22.
Wasps milked scrum penalties after
the interval. Dan Robson released
Barbeary down the blindside and the
flanker scored in the corner.
Stationed in midfield from lineouts,
Barbeary then drove through two
defenders to touch down for his second
try and added the third after Ben
Youngs had been sin-binned. Jack
Willis charged down a kick from Zack
Henry, standing in at scrum half, and
Thomas Young flipped a pass off the
floor for Barbeary to charge over.
By then Leicester were a broken side
and Wasps were cutting loose. Jacob
Umaga finished off one fluid attack,
Sam Spink scored from another and
Barbeary rounded off the evening by
sending Kibirige over.
“I grew up watching Wasps so to
make my Premiership debut in the
Ricoh and for it to go so well, I’m really
chuffed,” Barbeary said after being
named man of the match. “It’s a dream
come true.”