Andrea Masi column on an Italian Rugby website

[MarleyWasp]

Masi has written a column on Wasps's revival. Translation courtesy of Google, so forgive the poor grammar and errors:

How the Wasps built their amazing season
Andrea Masi talks about the transformation of the team in the best form of the moment: from two victories in the first eight to the Premiership final

Dai Young left his position as Director Of Rugby to Wasps last February after nine consecutive years at the helm of the club . In the first eight games of the 2019/2020 season, the first team had only achieved two wins.

It was a very difficult and sad time at the same time, but sadly it was the right thing to do. In any case, Dai must be credited with having brought the club to very high levels. As for me, I have played the best rugby of my life under his leadership, he is a person I respect very much and to whom I owe so much.

Lee Blackett, hitherto backward and forward coach, is promoted to interim head coach, and what seemed like a difficult year has become extraordinary: a path of 13 wins in the next 15 games that led the Wasps to the Premiership final of next 24 October.

In my opinion, the determining factors that have allowed such a rapid change of course are different. I'd start with the role of Blackett and what I think he's doing excellently.

Lee Blackett: Change Course
Obviously, successes don't come from the sky, you have to build them. Lee Blackett and his staff have done so with a number of actions taken on and off the pitch.

Right from the start he gave great responsibility to the players. The team leaders were invested with the right to make technical-tactical choices, with an important weight in terms of gameplan planning.

The group of first team leaders includes Brad Shields, Jack Willis, Joe Launchbury, Dan Robson, Jimmy Gopperth, Malakai Fekitoa and Jacob Umaga. The latter player is one of the youngest, but also one of the most mature within the group: he is a 22-year-old boy who is not afraid to take responsibility, to speak to the group, to make important choices in moments game critics.

Another very interesting aspect of the work that Lee Blackett has done and continues to do is to strengthen the cohesion with the rest of the staff. In the Dai Young era there was some friction and there was a lack of total alignment on the philosophy of play and training. Now the relationship between the members of the staff is exceptional and in complete synergy.

The mental approach has changed radically. In the past, the focus was mainly on producing games, on being effective ball in hand to win matches. There was no great focus on the defensive side, workrate and work without the ball.

Now it's all based on the amount of work. The team mantra is to work harder than your opponents, which may seem trivial or cliché, but that's what really works: working harder than your direct opponent, especially without the ball. In fact, there are incredible examples this season of players saving goals or allowing the marking of important points thanks to considerable efforts and a spirit of sacrifice that has not been seen at the club for several years.

Matteo Minozzi was one of the protagonists of several of these episodes, with kick chases that led to goals or heavy points, lots of cover runs of more than 50 meters to save goals or cover spaces. The interesting thing is that now in collective meetings almost only these efforts, this large amount of work are highlighted. There is hardly anything technical about team meetings, that side is left to individual or departmental meetings.

If you have had the chance to see the semifinal between Wasps and Bristol, you will also have seen the sensational rescue of Jack Willis in the in-goal. A circumstance resulting from a recovery run of at least 30 meters by scrum-half Dan Robson to mark an opponent. It would have been an easy two against one, a goal already scored, which maybe 4 or 5 months ago we would have suffered, while Robson's effort allows the recovery and then the miracle of Willis.

In addition to shared responsibilities, staff cohesion and work rate as a cardinal principle, the training structure has also changed in recent months. In the past there was a lot of focus on static phases and structured play, while now there is a much more intense focus on broken play, turnover situations, chaos. The Wasps have a team of excellent players on the meeting point and in the counterattack and the statistics speak for themselves, first for the number of turnover obtained in the Premiership and first for goals scored by situations of change of possession.

A setting that comes from the squad that the club has available. The game plan is built on what is available, and the team is fortunate to have three, four formidable players at the meeting point, including perhaps the best in the world right now, in my opinion. An enlarged triangle that can hurt on every change of possession, and four players between the backs: Robson, Umaga and Gopperth right-handed and Minozzi left-handed, a real luxury that gives excellent balance and great tactical elasticity to the team.

Another thing that must be recognized in Blackett is the complete demolition of every barrier between the Academy and the first team: he gave a lot of confidence to the youngsters, he made 10 players debut and he trusted Charlie Atkinson, an 18-year-old boy who just came out. from school. A testimony of the esteem and trust in the nursery and in young people. Of course, the first team had to make a virtue of necessity: playing every three days it was necessary to have an enlarged squad. Beyond this, however, the relationship with the Academy is fantastic: every morning there are meetings, we talk about players, there is a common line and a continuous exchange on the technical, tactical and mental development of the youngest.

Another determining factor was the change of athletic trainer.

Pete Atkinson: There is a difference between being trained and being rugby fit
Another absolute protagonist of the Wasps gear change was Pete Atkinson, the new athletic trainer who arrived after the lockdown, previously under contract with the Italian national team.

He and his staff of collaborators have had an important influence by changing the physical preparation of the team: it has been made completely relevant to the game, focusing on the execution of technical gestures specific to the role, but within physical activities. For example, running exercises interspersed with a tackle, a scrum, a catch, cleaning a meeting point. With an obsessive attention to the technical gesture but also to the respect of the deliveries, which gave rigor and discipline to the training.

As evidence of the impact Pete had, all the players achieved PB (personal best) in all the main tests of speed, endurance, strength. But the most important test is always the match, and the Wasps were the team that scored the most in the last quarter of the game: of 81 goals scored in the regular season, 30 arrived in the last 20 ', equal to 37% of the markings, a crazy figure that testifies how fit the team is.

Jack Willis: amazing form
The change of course imposed by Lee Blackett and all the staff was complemented by the moment of extraordinary form of all the best players: from Launchbury to Robson, from Gopperth to Fekitoa to Minozzi we are talking about players who are going through an exceptional period.

But there is one player above all who has reached stratospheric levels: Jack Willis just fresh from the award for best player of the season in the Premiership. I was talking about him when I first mentioned what, in my opinion, is the best jackler in the world. He is first in terms of turnovers obtained, at 44. The second behind him is at 19. In the ranking of Premiership teams for turnovers, the Wasps are first, Jack Willis alone is tenth.

However, he is not just a poacher , he also scores many goals: he scored 9, when the best reached 11 this season. For me, right now, it's the best number 6 in the world. Many see him as a holder in the English team, but not only: there is also talk of him as the holder of the British & Irish Lions next year in South Africa.

He is a player who gives everything on the pitch, without compromise from the point of view of the physical confrontation. In addition, he has an uncommon flexibility in his hips that allows him to assume absurd positions when trying to take possession away from the opponent's meeting point.

For us at this Willis club it's no surprise. Already in the 2017/2018 season he had managed to earn a place as a starter in the season finale, then a bad ankle and knee injury forced him to stand still for a year and skip the entire 2018/2019 season. This year, however, he returned and had a truly phenomenal season.

He comes from the nursery, we are very proud of the path he is taking and he will certainly be a captain of the Wasps in the future, also given his leadership skills and the charisma with which he makes himself recognized by his teammates as an important figure in the group.

Matteo Minozzi: the best moment of his career
Matteo is playing really well, and all this is testified by the numbers of his performances.

Within the team he is third for number of meters run, second for defenders beaten and has 81% effectiveness at tackling. In particular, this last statistic is significant: it is a really good percentage for an extreme, who often finds himself making difficult tackles and defending on very large spaces.

He saved three, four tries one meter from the line with incredible tackles. I am very happy about this because it was an aspect for him to improve, that of tackling effectiveness.

Another skill that has improved a lot is the use of the foot. Considering as positive all those kicks where both the choice and the execution are adequate, Minozzi has reached an incredible 90% effectiveness on the foot play, a figure far above the average for a footballer. For our tactical game, being left-handed is a crucial weapon, in many game situations but especially in the outings.

In general, he is a player who has grown a lot from all points of view. He has made important physical progress, has progressed tremendously with the English language and is definitely playing the best rugby of his life.

There is some tension at the club right now due to recent cases of coronavirus positive players and staff . Whatever the influence of this event on the final outcome of the championship, and regardless of the outcome of the match, nothing can be taken away from the extraordinary season we have experienced here in Coventry.

Andrea Masi

[Neils]

I like the "backwards and forwards coach" translation.

Actually a cracking read from a different angle within the club.

[Rossm]

Very interesting.

[mike909]

Really interesting view on how Wasps have moved on this season. All those positives take nothing away from Dai, but as every coaching set up finds out, one way or another, sometimes, it's just time for a change. It happened to many great coaches/Dir of Rugby and previously at Wasps.

The most interesting comment was re Jacob U. Watching the semi vs Bristol it was clear that Jacob was not scared to lay down the law to the players - and to tell them what he wanted. I was really impressed by him taking on that responsibility and equally impressed that the players were listening.

When the players are setting standards, you know that you are (generally...) in a good place, as the key part of acting as an effective team is self maintenance of standards.

Looking forwards to next season already - regardless of C-19

[backdoc]

'meeting point' = breakdown?

[PestNproud]

Masi has written a column on Wasps's revival. Translation courtesy of Google, so forgive the poor grammar and errors:

Thanks for sharing, MW; great read and insight (so much in there).

Always a big fan of Massi and great to see him thriving in the boiler room and looking like such a fabulous coaching combination of technical and people. Hope he doesn't get poached any time soon. I often tend to forget the depth of our Italian connections, too.

Sidetracking -- is Rob Smith still posting somewhere? Used to love his insights on DW, including relating to the 'Nursery'.

[hookender]

Thought this article was good in that the comments seemed more open and honest. Whether this is because of a more Latin directness or google translation who knows!

[westwaleswasp]

Interesting that he highlights Minozzi. I still see debate as to who we should start at 15, but I can not understand it- for me our first choice 15 is MM, as nailed on as our 13 and 10 shirts, and there is probably more to come. With the emergence of so much young talent this year, it's easy to forget the contributions of others who perhaps might have been expected to perform at a high level, but nonetheless have. Plenty of great signings don't work out, so I think it is a plus when great signings turn out to be great signings.

[PestNproud]

Interesting that he highlights Minozzi. I still see debate as to who we should start at 15, but I can not understand it- for me our first choice 15 is MM, as nailed on as our 13 and 10 shirts, and there is probably more to come. With the emergence of so much young talent this year, it's easy to forget the contributions of others who perhaps might have been expected to perform at a high level, but nonetheless have. Plenty of great signings don't work out, so I think it is a plus when great signings turn out to be great signings.

I just assumed Minozzi got (not unmerited) semi-star billing as Massi writing for an Italian audience, ahead of internationals, etc. Hopefully good all round for individuals, Wasps, and Italian rugby.

It often seems that clubs benefit from strong international links, and we seem to have a decent bond with Italy as well as others, not least NZ (and over the years, quite a few others -- our scouting/OAWAAW network seems v good). Exeter currently with Scotland (+ Oz, RSA), Gloucester, Sale and The Unmentionables with Saffers, Bath with Wales, Briz with Pacific Islands...

[Mellie]

Revealing article with good insight.

I previously said that the change in S&C was a significant factor in our resurgence which this tends to confirm. Plus playing with the shackles off has got everyone's buy in.

It's interesting to note that training without the ball was not previously a priority. Many years ago when Shaun Edwards was at Wasps he gave a coaching session on defence at my local club. He began by asking how much time you would expect to have the ball in a well matched close game. Everyone said 50%. His response was "in that case why don't you spend 50% of time training without the ball"!