A Wasps Rumour -
We are interested in Exeter's Sam Skinner apparently.
Match report - Bath win hinged on the red card apparently.
On Skinner, Chiefs were tight lipped about who signed what, other than saying that 30 different players signed anywhere between 1 and 4 year deals early in 2020, and Skinner was one of those. Must assume his was a two year deal expiring at the end of the season. As I have said before, this half term is when the clubs let players know they either have a new contract on the table, or not. Those that do not are usually given permission to talk to other clubs (that's only fair). The ones who are offered a contract but do not accept are left hanging until January. We know that Chiefs were tight up against the cap, so it can be little surprise they will be offloading. My only thought is that Skinner is not EQP is he (he is Scottish tied, yes)? So, he would, numerically, be replacing another non-EQP player in the squad (not necessarily of the same position).
As to the red card. You could argue that, except, for 8 minutes both teams were on 14 players, and Wasps do not have a stellar record (actually, it is quite abysmal) of capitalising on numerical advantage, even 15 vs 13. We often seem to go in to panic, must get a try or two, mode.
Our red zone conversion rate yesterday was quite poor, from what look like trying too hard.
I think the key yesterday was Dan playing. He was far from on form and whilst you may have seen some passes going astray, he wasn't where he should have been a lot. Are we then stuck with Porter and Hougaard for a few matches? I think so. If so, which of them starts? Hougaard really needs to get his mind in to gear if he wants to start.
I know that Watson had what was, for him, a good game yesterday, but I still think Crossdale is the better full back. A long kick to Watson is not a bad defensive move for our opposition. He doesn't seem so decisive, for example when he let the ball bounce in the second half, hoping it would pop up in to his hands. It didn't, leaving him scrambling to make a poor clearance kick. When he runs, he runs and thinks like a sevens player, looking for wide open space to run around defenders/chasers. He isn't going to find it. What he does find is three or four tacklers, and none of our supporting players. He finds himself out of position and runners can ghost past him. Crossdale has better positional awareness, kicks better, and links up to our players better. He is a full back. Watson is a sevens fast runner.
Always a Wasp
