I’m not sure.
For the club to continue to grow champions cup rugby is hugely important, not only in attracting and retaining players, but also commercially through gate attendances, sponsorship, tv exposure and increased revenue.
I must admit even with our short return to the top 6 2 rounds previously Our performances were not filling me with confidence. Wins dragged out of defeat can show spirit, but if you do not build upon it and grow your game then their value rapidly declines to irrelevance as we have observed.
Injuries were a reasonable assessment to justify our form in the first half of the season. But it is worrying that neither the coaches nor the players are able to put a 80 minute performance together. Currently as sure as the sun rises our team will either lose discipline, intensity, accuracy and control in a match, sometimes all at the same time, and sometimes for extended periods.
Certainly our midfield needs time to bed in, but we need our 2 tens Jacob and Charlie playing at 10 all the time, with one benching when the other starts. Jacob is doing a fine job at 15, but Eddie Jones assertion that anyone can play anywhere is folly to any of us who have played the game. Each position has certain attributes and nuances that when mastered makes you a top player, but if not fully grasped can make you vulnerable. Jacob is best at 10, and every game out of position is a step in development lost.
Our front 5 are once more struggling, Biyi is full of potential, however against Marler last week and Bristol this week he has been shown how far he has to go. However West had a night to forget last night. Gabi still has much development to undertake, but his game looks chaotic, he is eager, but just watching him so much energy seems to be going in the wrong direction. If we can get him focused on running straight lines, carrying hard, knowing when to offload and when to take the tackle and set up quick ruck ball then he will start flying forward in ability. Currently he reminds me of the child in the playground who runs around everywhere haphazardly with so much energy, but doesn’t really do anything with it.
Turnovers are also a problem. Young Young even before his injury had gone off the boil for a while in this area. Jack is still early from returning to the game and will need time to develop that part once more. But overall no one is mastering this area. We get a couple now and then, but to often we don’t get in a position to turn over, and more recently are struggling to slow the oppositions ruck speed. From here we lose the gain line. It was a worse problem last season, but it is still an area where we are not competitive enough.
Defence speed as also slipped. At the start of the season our line speed and tackling was persistent throughout the game. Last night was a demonstration of where we currently are. It is there in fits and starts, but too often goes missing and we end up in our own 22 and conceding points. In rugby there are two non negotiable, defence and set piece strength. Get those and you can build everything else around it. We do not have those building blocks in place. They are there, but rather than being foundations dug deep into our playing psyche, they are like Lego bricks, they can be in place temporarily, but it only takes someone with a strong thumb to flip them over when desired.
We are lauded for our attacking threat. But our ‘tries of the week’ contenders masks a ongoing problem, and that is we are always trying for the unstructured. The problem is we have not mastered the structured part. Unstructured moments do occur from long ball in play time, or later when fatigue starts to develop. But the majority of the 80 minutes is structured, with defensive lines set, set piece play invaluable and attacking based upon plans and phases. If you do not compete in the structured then there is little point waiting for the unstructured as more often than not you will lose. I am reminded of England 2001-2003. For many test matches the first 40-60 minutes were close. Sometimes we were ahead, sometime behind. But Woodward’s art was creating a game plan which everyone bought into. In the structured part of the game we either were ahead or only just behind. Thus when the unstructured part arrived with fatigue, substitutions, injuries we capitalised. The work was already done to put us in a winning position and we took those opportunities. Last night for us was a case in point. We lost the structured part heavily, sitting 28-7 behind. And even though we won the unstructured 12-3 it was to little to late. We had not earned the right to win because we are not good enough as a structured team.
Perhaps where we are evolving is a core leadership group. There are players in Launch, Robbo and Shields that can lead and guide a team. We have though to enlarge this group. Players like Gaskell, Stooke, The Willis brothers, Jacob and Charlie, West, Cruise need to become key lieutenants and leaders in their own right. You need a leadership team large enough to have at least 1-2 always on the field to guide the larger squad. There are moments I can see that, but the true evolution of this will only be apparent if we start winning as that will be a direct reflection on this part strengthening.
Lee HAS to find a starting XV consistently who can play together and develop trust and relationships. He has to have a bench that will lift standards and a wider squad who know how we want to play the game and slot in when needed. If you do this standards rise, consistency in performance evolves, games are won more regularly and chances for trophies and titles occur. People criticise Exeter, but Baxter is a phenomenal coach. His game plan may be narrow, but it has won titles and trophies. 6 finals in a row is mightily impressive. And to knock his style is to underestimate how good he is. He gets a team playing from the same hymn sheet. It did not need big names, it needed the ability to recognise good players who work in harmony and are stronger than the sum of their parts. One player went off another slotted in seamlessly. That takes skill to develop, and Lee and our coaches have yet to find that.
Where we have a wonderful opportunity to achieve the above is in facilities. This club wants for nothing now in regards to stadia and training facilities. Our management have provided such wonderful world class infrastructure that no coaches, support staff such as S&C or medical, or the players have any excuses not to achieve at the highest level. Indeed when the facilities are this good you can remove excuses and start to sort the wheat from the chaff.
We all would love to see Wasps lifting trophies again, but we have a long way to go based on our performances as noted above. I would love to be proved wrong, but with our away form and the above top 6 is a long shot at best, and unless we see a change we will be somewhere between 8th-10th come seasons end.
Chris
Once a Wasp ALWAYS a Wasp.
Topic: Top 6 still possible? (Read 819 times)
Always a Wasp