London Irish Yesterday

[Rossm]

Having to read the LI board as DW is down (again). Haven't seen any of the game but the general consensus on their board is that the game changed significantly when Cips came on.
Dai will have some difficult decisions to make when our backs are all fully fit. I thought Kyle and JdeJ really clicked in the Falcons game. So where does that leave Gopps, Daly and, to a lesser extent, Gaby? Wadey and Josh, IMO are nailed on. Willie looks like he is regaining confidence and form - though I understand he was a bit of a curate's egg yesterday. A pass to Josh (I think) has been described as 'sublime' and 'genius'.
Looking forward to Prem Rugby TV putting the full game up.

[Raggs]

https://www.premiershiprugby.com/video/full-match-london-irish-v-wasps-round-9/

Full game is up.

[Rossm]

Thanks, Raggs. That was quick. Got to go out grocery shopping but I'll have a look when I get back.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

The ball was soooo slow to get to 10 (Gopps) that our backs were standing still. In the first half (if I counted right) we turned over 9 times in the first three phases of our possession.

It was a very, very poor game for Simpson.

Decision making was poor (sorry ash, but that is down to you as Captain). For example, having got Franks sent off, we didn't then kick the ball. It was a free 3 points with the KO to give the ball back to us. Then, having opted for the scrum, Simmo tossed the ball over the defence and pretty much into touch. Inexplicable.

We were very slow to the breakdown of our player having been tackled; lost a lot in ball held penalties.

When Robson + Ciprianni were on, the whole thing got much better. Lineout throws (Ash) were mainly OK, but Irish correctly guessed many of the throws to disrupt clean ball, or to even steal it. One throw went to Mr Nobody and gave it straight to Irish. We should have scored a try at that lineout.

Our defence was OK (not as good as it was against Falcons last game). Kicking usually went straight to them, or badly wrong.

All in all, the lads made it hard work for themselves and left a lot of tries on the field. I nearly went. I am glad I did not.

We have 3 9's, but only one is good enough; Robson. Neither Simmo nor Hampson is anywhere as good as Robson. Carr was OK. Haskell got a lot of stick for lost ball, but they were bounced off him from short range. I find that criticism of him is unfair. He played well; but not at the rate he did against Falcons. Willis was again excellent when he came on. JCW had a great game, as did McIntyre.

WLR DID have a much better game, but he wasn't smiling.

My MOTM? Tommy Bell, or maybe the ref.

What can we learn from this? We need to find another scrum half. Jimmy was off his kicking game a bit as well, but what do we do without him? Cips simply is not a good place kicker. So we need an alternative there as well. Jimmy is really a 12 now. He isn't so good at 10. With Cips out, that is a problem.

Looking at our lineup, we have good coverage at 11 thru' 15, but 9 and 10 are the problem. With Robson and Cips in and on form, all is good. Without them and we see games like this. With the game as it is now, we need people like Willis and Young as the foraging, stealing flankers. Not players like Haskell and Thompson. At 8 we need a big, line breaking player, like Nathan Hughes (and the arriving Shields).

We need TT back, but with a real hooker as the backup (So why isn't Charles playing - maybe he is still learning the calls? Why sign him otherwise?). With Ashley as hooker, the oppo are happy to see us get a lineout. That is never a good sign.

[Raggs]

Gopps seems to be settling back in at being a 10, I hope we keep him there, and train with him there, from now on.  It's always going to take a while to get used to.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Gopps seems to be settling back in at being a 10, I hope we keep him there, and train with him there, from now on.  It's always going to take a while to get used to.

Yesterday he just didn't seem to click with Simpson. Slow ball, receiving when standing still. Shows he didn't trust Simpson to time it right if he was running. Trouble is, with Cipriani back, where does Gopperth go? We don't have a good 2nd choice kicker.

[Raggs]

Just watching through, about 30 mins in.

Simpson doesn't seem too slow at the breakdown.  He's not threatening the defence at all though.  Robson switches between flinging it out fast, and taking a few steps probing for holes, before bringing a player onto the ball at pace. That helps stop the blitz.

We're also getting turned over a lot, just not accurate enough basically, which was a theme throughout the game.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I thought Simmo was off the pace, he is capable of so much more than he showed.  I thought WLR was fantastic, and JCW was amazing in the scrum.  The rest was the most disappointing game I have watched in a long time until Robson came on.  I know people are crediting Cips with the change in pace, but I honestly think it was happening before he came on.

[Raggs]

There wasn't much in it VV.  I suspect Robson helped the pace, but Cips helped the organisation, improving the accuracy a bit.

[mike909]

I only watched the extended highlights, it was yet another combination in midfield, and it didn't seem to click this time. JS looked a little lost and there seemed no coherent plan. Whilst this was not the first choice, it was near enough the first choice back three, and until Wasps started getting them into the play plus Robson's urgency, it did look a lost game

But all teams can have  a bit of an off day, and credit must go to Irish who are a dangerous side. However, the problem again for me was the lack of ability to change tactics. Wasps just didn't make use of territorial position and it was one of those games were you take your points as and when.

Obviously the second half eventually showed that Wasps can always score, the hands for Bassett's try were great - looking forwards to Tigers, expect Cips to start with Robson, but focus will need to be reinforced.

[Raggs]

Our exit plays were awful.

We'd play a bit between the 22/10m line. Pass back to Gopps, who'd put in an uncontestable medium length kick.  All our forwards would then have to wait to be put on side. Irish would receive between their 10/22, and then either run back to half way and meet our defence, or up and under it with a competitive (or at least tried) kick in our half.  We only broke out of this cycle when a handling error, or penalty was given, inevitably within our own half, so rarely that useful for actually attacking.

[mike909]

Our exit plays were awful.

We'd play a bit between the 22/10m line. Pass back to Gopps, who'd put in an uncontestable medium length kick.  All our forwards would then have to wait to be put on side. Irish would receive between their 10/22, and then either run back to half way and meet our defence, or up and under it with a competitive (or at least tried) kick in our half.  We only broke out of this cycle when a handling error, or penalty was given, inevitably within our own half, so rarely that useful for actually attacking.

I think that you've nailed that......do you think there was a plan when Irish didn't fold in the face of "a bit of play" in the middle of the pitch? It looked a lot like a game where if the initial combinations are not gelling, you surely do those basics of getting the ball off the pitch in their half and compete for the ball to try and make use of the back three, the fasted players at your disposal?

[Raggs]

I don't know.  But we seemingly lost the territory game (when they kicked it deep, we'd kick it straight out, for them to have the lineout on halfway or closer to our line), or they ran at us and we were left defending multiple phases, sometimes pushing them back, sometimes not.

We don't seem to know if we want to kick it deep to try and force the set piece from halfway or closer, or kick competitively to try and force the mistake.  Instead we end up in the middle ground.

[Rossm]

I've just watched the full match replay (finally). And it became apparent to me from quite early in the first half, that we were looking for 5 points from this game. IMO, we were unlucky not to get at least 4 tries - on another day we'd have put 40 points on them. With hindsight, we should have taken the penalty points on offer in the first half. Assuming Gopps got them then we'd have gone ahead and would have a slight points cushion which would have enabled to really cut loose in the second half.
Other than a dogged defence LI had very little else to offer. Their attack was pretty non existent and their wingers, apart from Lewington's interception try, were anonymous. I don't see any way how they are going to avoid relegation.

[mike909]

I don't know.  But we seemingly lost the territory game (when they kicked it deep, we'd kick it straight out, for them to have the lineout on halfway or closer to our line), or they ran at us and we were left defending multiple phases, sometimes pushing them back, sometimes not.

We don't seem to know if we want to kick it deep to try and force the set piece from halfway or closer, or kick competitively to try and force the mistake.  Instead we end up in the middle ground.

Yep - that's about right, no nuance or thought, hope Cips is ok for next week