Wasps v Northampton: Post Match Thoughts.

[JonnyD]

Thoughts:
We'll lose more games than we'll win if we can't kick sticks. How is Jacob not a better kicker with Gops at his disposal is curious..
Robson is by some margin the best English 9 based on current form.

This has puzzled me, and I have aired that puzzlement on here many times. He should be spending hours and hours getting it right. He has no excuse with our new training facilities.

Jacob is absolutely a confidence player, he has said it before that he has been worried about stick online after mistakes and has talked about mental health. I have no doubt that this seriously affects his kicking. Same as Cips, on their day can kick beautifully but in a match winning situation you probably wouldn’t be putting your mortgage on them succeeding.

This is another key reason that Smith cannot be ignored for England now - he is classy going forward and also has the best boot

[Wombles]

Although Umaga needs to improve the kicking element of his game from the tee -and this will keep him out of the England reckoning for the AIs- His ability under the high ball, his distribution, the willingless to take it to the line and into contact -which makes him a constant threat to defences- and his game management is right up there for such a young man! He will only get better, and when you play at the level he does it is the little things that make the biggest difference.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

I thought that was an excellent win and well deserved. For the first quarter of the match Saints were all over us and looked like they could score every time they had the ball in hand but the defence fronted up and slowly put us on an even keel. 

By the second half we’d earned the right to play more of our game and they didn’t let it go to their heads but kept control rather than throwing it around like a basketball and giving Saints a route back.

Jacob kicked two great ones to start and then fluffed a relatively easy one. I’m sure they’ve got expert help for his mental side  and all he can do is keep working on it. The rest of the game will keep him in the top flight, but he’s reached his peak without a better kick. Alternatively, we go back to the days when someone else did the kicking, it was once the job of the full back and in tight games we need those points. 

Is there anyone who thinks Dobbie isn’t the best available England 9?

Overall a good team performance marred by letting in yet another try at the end, and the sort of performance that will let them build their confidence. 

[Damian68]

Although Umaga needs to improve the kicking element of his game from the tee -and this will keep him out of the England reckoning for the AIs- His ability under the high ball, his distribution, the willingless to take it to the line and into contact -which makes him a constant threat to defences- and his game management is right up there for such a young man! He will only get better, and when you play at the level he does it is the little things that make the biggest difference.

It's not just Jacob's kicking that will keep him out of England reckoning at the moment - the fact that on current form a certain Marcus Smith trumps Jacob in almost every facet of the game (defence and attack) means a return back to the England fold is someway off.

[Rossm]

Is there anyone who thinks Dobbie isn’t the best available England 9?

Hate to state the obvious, but I doubt if mental Eddie is capable of performing a U turn.

[hopwood]

Great defensive effort.
Some big displays by Willis and Shields.
I’m a fan of Hislop. Looks a good find and has real desire.
Toomaga-Allen has really grown. He’s such a reliable force and gives great energy.
Jacob had a good game, other than those missed kicks.
Robson is such a brilliant consistent performer for us these days.   

Let’s take the win and build momentum.

[Neils]

Although Umaga needs to improve the kicking element of his game from the tee -and this will keep him out of the England reckoning for the AIs- His ability under the high ball, his distribution, the willingless to take it to the line and into contact -which makes him a constant threat to defences- and his game management is right up there for such a young man! He will only get better, and when you play at the level he does it is the little things that make the biggest difference.

And he doesn't shirk a tackle no matter the size.

[mike909]

Great defensive effort.
Some big displays by Willis and Shields.
I’m a fan of Hislop. Looks a good find and has real desire.
Toomaga-Allen has really grown. He’s such a reliable force and gives great energy.
Jacob had a good game, other than those missed kicks.
Robson is such a brilliant consistent performer for us these days.   

Let’s take the win and build momentum.

+1 Impressed with Jacob's pace with the ball too.

[Shugs]

A really good win. Outside of the first 20 we dominated. Special mention for Shields - what a player. So key to our success. Umaga needs to work on his place kicking. Front row was good. Robson sharp. Back row spectacular. Le Bourgeois impressed. We risked an adverse result with our penalty count but sorted it out in the end. Two good wins which could have easily been three but I think we're looking good.

[Raggs]

I'll take the 4 points. As I said in another thread  - too much whistle. CMK seems incapable of letting a game flow. Neither side really got settled into a rhythm.  I wonder how many penalties were given against both sides? It seemed a lot.

I think Gaby was quite lucky not to see red. Another ref, another day, and he could quite easily have got an early bath. Can he still be cited? Gotta take care in the tackle.

Horrible injury to Jamma. What appalling luck. Hope it turns out to be not as bad as it looked.

Unless you can say that CMK was wrong to blow his whistle, I'd be placing the blame on the players, not the ref. The players were misbehaving a lot.

Gaby was lucky, that was a definite case of giving the idiot with the whistle a chance to blow it. We were fortunate that CMK decided to land on the yellow side, it could have easily been a red and little argument.

Missed the very end of the stream, so missed the injury, absolutely gutting news.

I don't know if Umaga's kicking of the tee is mental (as in confidence), or if he's just not yet settled into a solid routine. Gopps tends to kick everything the same way, even if it doesn't need the power to go 40m, it often has that sort of power behind it. Umaga seems to adjust more for each kick, perhaps losing that rhythm. But then, I've never kicked at stick in my life, so could be completely wrong.

[JF]

Disappointed with Jacob's kicking, at times it reminded me of the lottery when Kenny Logan had the jib.

I thought Stooke played well and now seems to be guaranteed playing time with the injury to the luckless Gaskell.

As for Dan Robson, if he can't get a start for England now you have to ask yourself if he broke wind during one of EJ's team talks or something like that.

[RogerE]

Just got home - was hoping for a losing bp so the win was an unexpected bonus. Also the women's match was very good (especially the second half!).

My main take-away from the men's match was how well Wasps managed the period Gabby was in the sin-bin. Pity they didn't manage the last minute or so so well!

Overall a reasonable day at the office for Wasps, and their fans.

(oh and CMK wasn't too bad either!)

[Raggs]

Win your home games, win a few away games, and pick up a dozen or more BPs. That's always got to be the target, and will pretty much always get you into contention for top 4. We're continuing on our way for that, so I'm happy enough. Saints are a tough team to beat too.

[Andywasp50]

I thought that was a massive step forward and one of our best performances in a long time. We’ve long been a great side with broken field and ball in hand, but when the going got tough and we were under pressure would leak tries and end up relying on just trying to score more.

Today was a really mature performance - we defended our 22 to the extent they ended up relying on set plays to get into that zone for the second half; we won big collisions, our defensive line didn’t give ground, starved them of space and gaps and were committed in the tackle. That was a top Saints team and we went into an arm wrestle with them and won. We showed another dimension other than just trying to ‘win pretty’. We didn’t chase the game but fought our way back in, and then put them under so much pressure in the second half they just kept making mistakes. Game management was excellent.

Ultimately Gopps saved Umaga’s backside when he came on and kicked the pens. Understandable it could be a confidence thing, but the kick missed before half time was a shocker and he needs to sort it at this level. I remember Nick Robinson being brilliant with ball in hand, but his awful kicking ended up costing us games because there was no scoreboard pressure being built.

I think today carried a very big hallmark of Mitchell’s influence. Gritty, mature, organised and determined. We were as physically good as I’ve seen for ages - and that’s the guys left from a side that is decimated by injuries. Inspiring stuff!

[Rossm]

Good post, Andy. I agree with everything you say - particularly about the missed penalty just before HT. That one should have been a formality.