Is our balance the key?

[Shugs]

There are obviously a myriad of factors in our upturn in fortunes but it strikes me our balance of power, pace, creativity, grunt and overall ballast has fallen nicely into sync. I think back a few years and we had the stellar backs but a scrum that only achieved parity. Then Dai tried to take us back the other way a bit. Our front row is now as good as it has been for years. Willis has transformed the back row and punches regular holes. Shields is a workhorse. Mills and Fekitoa are a great combination of physicality and craft and we've loads of pace and skill across several back three options. Linking it all up Umaga and Robson look impressive. It's possible we've found that blend of pragmatism and creativity that we've been one side or the other of for some time.

[Hymenoptera]

IS it the winning habit?
I still think we have the ability to be beaten by anyone on the day and we are a work in progress that is perhaps punching above its weight...hope i'm wrong but that's my gut feel. I'll ride this wave but won't be shocked by a downturn at some point.

[MarleyWasp]

I agree with above, the blend of the squad has been as good as it's been at any point over the past 12 years. It's particularly encouraging to see so many young players putting their hands up for selection.

But squad management has been key. Based on each match lasting 2 hours), we've had the shortest duration to play our 7 games in since the restart by 21 and a half hours. A full summary is below:

1) Wasps - 27 days, 23 hours 30 minutes
2) Northampton - 28 days and 1 hour
3) Bristol - 28 days and 22 hours
4) Bath - 29 days and 2 hours
4) Leicester - 29 days and 2 hours
4) London Irish - 29 days and 2 hours
4) Saracens - 29 days and 2 hours
8.) Exeter - 29 days, 4 hours and 30 minutes
8.) Worcester - 29 days 4 hours and 30 minutes
10) Sale - 29 days 21 hours and 45 minutes
11) Gloucester - 30 days, 9 hours and 15 minutes
12) Harlequins - 31 days and 2 hours

This how the table would look of based on results since the restart, with Gloucester v Quins tomorrow:

Bath 30
Wasps 28 (104 PD)
Exeter 28 (71 PD)
Sale 19
Saracens 22
Bristol 21
Gloucester 15*
Harlequins 14*
Worcester 10
Leicester 8
Northampton 7
London Irish 1

It's all very well having a well balanced squad but with short turnarounds there's no guarantee of success without decent management. In that aspect, Lee has played a blinder.

[BdeB]

I agree with above, the blend of the squad has been as good as it's been at any point over the past 12 years. It's particularly encouraging to see so many young players putting their hands up for selection.

But squad management has been key. Based on each match lasting 2 hours), we've had the shortest duration to play our 7 games in since the restart by 21 and a half hours. A full summary is below:

1) Wasps - 27 days, 23 hours 30 minutes
2) Bristol - 28 days and 22 hours
3) Northampton - 29 days and 1 hour
4) Bath - 29 days and 2 hours
4) Leicester - 29 days and 2 hours
4) London Irish - 29 days and 2 hours
4) Saracens - 29 days and 2 hours
8.) Exeter - 29 days, 4 hours and 30 minutes
8.) Worcester - 29 days 4 hours and 30 minutes
10) Sale - 29 days 21 hours and 45 minutes
11) Gloucester - 30 days, 9 hours and 15 minutes
12) Harlequins - 31 days and 2 hours

This how the table would look of based on results since the restart, with Gloucester v Quins tomorrow:

Bath 30
Wasps 28 (104 PD)
Exeter 28 (71 PD)
Sale 19
Saracens 22
Bristol 21
Gloucester 15*
Harlequins 14*
Worcester 10
Leicester 8
Northampton 7
London Irish 1

It's all very well having a well balanced squad but with short turnarounds there's no guarantee of success without decent management. In that aspect, Lee has played a blinder.

And I think we would have beaten Sale if it had been dry. Yes we need to learn to win in all conditions but the rain and the wind that night played right to their strengths and away from ours.

[InBetweenWasp]

Politely disagree BdeB, I actually think it's the one time that we just got our tactics wrong.

Diamond openly said, their plan (because of the weather) was to play no rugby and instead force mistakes.  I think as boring as it was if we had of kicked ourselves into good field position, we'd have more than likely won.

But we tried to play too much from deep.  Between Robson, Umaga, Gopperth and Minozzi we had the kicking capability to play that sort of game.  With Fekitoa able to crash it up when needed.

Our maul has been pretty strong, as has our lineout.  Our first phase strike play is excellent too - Just needed the field position to execute. 

Of course, it's easy to say that with hindsight and having seen our free-flowing attack, you can see why we backed ourselves to pick off turnovers and then strike. 

[BdeB]

Politely disagree BdeB, I actually think it's the one time that we just got our tactics wrong.

Diamond openly said, their plan (because of the weather) was to play no rugby and instead force mistakes.  I think as boring as it was if we had of kicked ourselves into good field position, we'd have more than likely won.

But we tried to play too much from deep.  Between Robson, Umaga, Gopperth and Minozzi we had the kicking capability to play that sort of game.  With Fekitoa able to crash it up when needed.

Our maul has been pretty strong, as has our lineout.  Our first phase strike play is excellent too - Just needed the field position to execute. 

Of course, it's easy to say that with hindsight and having seen our free-flowing attack, you can see why we backed ourselves to pick off turnovers and then strike.

I think we are actually agreeing. Aren’t we both saying had it been dry we would have won?

[DGP Wasp]

Or to put it another way, had we adapted to the conditions better then we may have won.  The weather was undoubtedly a factor, but the reasoning behind the extent to which that impacted the result is different.  The weather alone did not cost Wasps that game.