Before looking ahead I’m going to look back. I know that a lot has been said on here about the game last Sunday but there are a few points I want to look at.
The first is a big positive, Atkinson and Odendaal. Praise for Charlie has been rightly fulsome, for me he was the best fly-half playing last weekend: his stats look very good and show the slight difference in style from earlier last year, with much more of our play coming through 10. Atkinson made 17 passes, 15 carries and 4 kicks, he beat 3 defenders and also made 7 tackles in addition to some great work under the high ball with 5 takes, a couple under heavy pressure. Odendaal had similarly great stats with 5 carries, averaging 13 metres each, 5 defenders beaten and 5 big tackles. Together they both played a big part in all three of our tries. For the first, it initially looked like a play we saw a couple of times last year – where Charlie runs a late, short-side run off a maul to go over when the defence is fixed on stopping the drive – we saw Atkinson and Crossdale move to the left as we mauled forward but Charlie saw that it was going to go down and made the call to go infield instead. He goes back into the pocket where he’d be able to either attack the line or fizz a pass out wide to Kibirige, Burger makes a great late run and get the ball from Robson which fixes Harris who turns his hips towards Burger, he then plays it back to Charlie who knows he can beat the already committed Harris with a step and he goes under the posts for a really intelligent try. Our second is more lovely work from Atkinson, delaying his pass long enough to fix the defender who is unsure where it will go but also meaning he doesn’t get clattered himself and is able to stay on his feet and weave through as Ryan makes the line-break. Both Ryan and Atkinson time their passes and also drift slightly left to open the space, Odendaal is well tackled but Crossdale clears out really well and Shields finishes well with a good pick up. Try three is just a very nice first-phase move: 8 – 9 – 10 off the scrum and Odendaal with a great line coming back, Charlie’s little pop pass is perfect and we have a try that makes rugby looks such a simple game. While I understand why so many are suggesting that our defeat was endemic of Wasps in recent seasons the 10 -12 combo was so pleasing because for the last couple of years it has been such a weakness – we have lacked consistency here and been overly reliant on Gopperth. This is just one game, but this and the pre-season give hope that we may have found a fix to one of our biggest issues.
Next up is another area that has been an issue: the scrum. Lee has made it clear that it was not good enough last year and we have focused on improvement here this year. Our issue of course is that we are missing arguably our three best looseheads, as well as Koch of course. To illustrate the importance of the scrum I’ll look at two ostensibly similar scrums. 28 minutes into the first half, we had a scrum on roughly the join of the 15m and 10m line in the Gloucester half. Hislop, Cruse and Ryan were the front row. We had the put-in. The ball went in, the scrum was stable and it was picked up by Barbeary at 8 – as detailed above, it resulted in a lovely first-phase try for Odendaal. 25 minutes into the second half, we had a scrum on roughly the join of the 15m and 10m line in the Gloucester half. Millar-Mills, Frost and Alo were the front row. We had the put-in. The ball went in we went backwards, this allowed Raparva-Ruskin to get under Alo and drive him up and back, the ball did not come out and Alo was penalised for standing-up. Gloucester kicked long to just in front of our 5m line and the maul off their line-out was sacked at the back by Tom Willis who was rightly yellow carded, Gloucester mauled again and Alo was sin-binned for collapsing at the front and we go from having been 6 points up, with an attacking scrum in the Gloucester half to being 1 point down with only 13 men on the pitch. I’m not blaming the scrum for the actions of Willis and Alo in the maul but if we hadn’t lost that scrum against the head we aren’t defending our 5m line. The first scrum still needed great work from Atkinson and Odendaal to score the try but that was only possible because of the platform the scum gave them to play off. Here’s hoping that Tom West is back and able to provide his usually excellent stability here.
There’s one more area from last week that caught my eye. A lot post-match was mentioned about leadership, clear thinking, reacting well when the situation changes, momentum here is key. Saracens and players like Itoje and Earl in particular get a lot of stick for celebrating scrums, knock-ons and turnovers but they argue that that drives the team and builds positivity. We have seen the huge positive effect a turnover can have – think of Alfie on the line against Tigers last January. As the first quarter of the match was approaching, we had a try correctly chalked off for obstruction. You could see the frustration in Barbeary’s face when his score was disallowed. We had been on top but this was the third or fourth big attack where we had come away without any points. It would have been easy for heads to drop slightly and feelings of frustration take over. Instead, off the Gloucester lineout, Hislop chopped Ackermann and Barbeary was straight over the ball, winning the turnover penalty for holding-on. We kicked to the corner and off the line-out drive, Atkinson scored. Early in the second half we had had a period of 5 minutes where nothing had gone for us, since Spink spilled on the line and Rees-Zammit raced away to score we had barely touched the ball and had conceded another try and now Gloucester were attacking again. Tuisue carried and McDonald and Cruse brought him down, Barbeary looks briefly and sees Cruse rolling to the side and latches onto the turtled Tuisue and the ball, however, Cruse had rolled into oncoming Gloucester players and impeded the clear-out – penalty Gloucester. It’s hard to blame Alf for that, he was looking for the big turnover which would hopefully change the momentum and give us the ball. In the end a small error means that this just increasing the momentum and confidence of Gloucester. It is fine margins and sometimes they pay off and sometimes they don’t.
Onto this weekend. Wasps have only lost one game at the CBSA so far in 2022 – 7 – 16 against Sale in May. Our 8 wins in this time have included Saracens twice, Leicester, Toulouse, London Irish, Newcastle, Worcester and Bath. Bristol by contrast haven’t won away from home in 9 games – their last win away being back in October last year. Until recently Wasps seem to have had a hoo-doo of sorts over Bristol but this was recently broken. Last year we had one of our best wins at home – 44 – 8 on our first fixture of the season and a dismal away day where we lost 31 – 18.
Bristol have had two very contrasting seasons: topping the table before losing an epic semi-final to Quins and then a torrid campaign where they finished 10th. Outwardly it is difficult to account for such contrasts, their squad and playing style has remined fairly consistent. Injuries to key players have been cited but Radranra, Piutau, Luatua, Randall, Vui and Thacker all played more games last year than the year before so that doesn’t hold water for me. As unpopular an opinion as it will be but I believe that Bristol’s reluctance to kick is a reason for their poor return last year. The Bristol game plan has been worked out and teams are able to account for and counter it now, as such this year Pat Lam may have to think more creatively about his attack. In the 2021-22 season, Bristol were one of only four teams who averaged more running metres than kicking metres (782 run – the 3rd highest and 564 kicked – the 2nd fewest). This season they have started in the same vein with the fewest kicks (12) and the fewest kick metres (353). Bristol look to use the width of the pitch and defences will need to be on their guard as the ball routinely goes out the back but players like MacGinty and Sinkler are masters of the flat drop-off which can often lead to a line break.
Looking at Bristol’s try last week. Two came from Genge and his maurding runs but in all honesty the tackles were woeful and he should have been sat down, two more came from close work that went wide with Randall and Piutau key in both and one from a decent driving maul that should have been sacked when it was a long way out. Nothing about Bristol’s performance filled me with much dread and as much as I don’t want to be caught out by hubris, we should be able to out play them. The Bristol line-out didn’t go well with Attwood in particular pilfering ball, maybe they hadn’t changed their calls! Harry Thacker won’t be fit so they may continue with Byrne or start Capon but the line-out should be an area we can target and disrupt their attack before it gets started. Their maul was also often ineffective although two tries came off mauls – Morahan and Capon. The scrums were a mess all game with 7/15 scrums going against the head one way or another, usually a result of Foley’s whistle. I’ll use this to speak about Ellis Genge. Personally, I had no problem with Genge playing against Bath: local lad, returning ‘home’, first game of the season, at home, against your biggest rivals – of course he wanted to play. If we want the club game to expand, we need to have the best players in the big games to make stories like we saw on Saturday. Genge was not the only player to seek dispensation to play: Furbank, Jefferies, Randall, Joseph, Arundell and of course Jack Willis all played too. It’s moot however as Genge won’t be playing against us with Woolmore and Thomas the likely looseheads. In the rest of the pack, The Bears are without Luatua, Fitz Harding could return and it is possible Sam Lewis may start to make them more competitive at the breakdown but I would expect to see the same back-row as against Bath. I’d also expect the same locks but with the way the line-out faltered I wouldn’t rule out seeing the hulking Morgan Eames coming in. In the backs, Randall and Uren may switch after Randall made a few basic errors and indeed he may take this as a rest week along with Genge if Tom Whiteley is fit. I would expect MacGinty to start ahead of Sheedy after last week where Sheedy’s boot misfired and he got himself sin-binned but I think that will be a tight call. Ioan Lloyd is fit again but I think the flailing arms of Sam Bedlow may be at 12 again with Lloyd perhaps on the bench. Piutau showed his class against Bath and I’d expect him to be back and to receive a warm welcome, Morahan and Lane went well too so no change there probably. I’m looking forward to the return of Gabriel Ibitoye though, I just hope it won’t be against us.
If Tom West is fit and starts, we have a fierce looking starting front row and very decent bench. Oghre was a superb line-out thrower last year and hopefully will continue that this year. Without Shields we are short a first line jumper and but between the Willis brothers and Nemo we should be fine in supplementing the locks. Launchbury had a good game last week and should have a field day with the Bristol maul. Our back-row will need more urgency than it displayed against Gloucester, hopefully we can start seeing some big carries and smart offloads from three players who are all excellent ball players as well as powerful units. I do expect Jack Willis to play but we will need to ensure he has his extra two weeks off – I would expect that after this game he misses Bath away and that, with our rest week would give him the required time out. The backs should see little change. Crossdale to start and Paulo on the bench would be my changes. Regardless of who starts at 9 for the bears, Robson should use this to show his experience and game management, Spencer had a good game last week and there’s no reason Dan shouldn’t this week.
Possible teams:
Wasps
West, Oghre, Ryan, Launchbury, McDonald, Willis T, Willis J, Barbeary, Robson, Atkinson, Bassett, Odendaal, Spink, Kibirige, Crossdale
Cruse, Hislop, Alo, Cardall, Carr, Porter, Mills, Odogwu
Bristol
Woolmore, Byrne, Sinkler, Joyce, Vui, Jefferies, Heenan, Bradbury, Uren, MacGinty, Lane, Bedlow, O’Conor, Morhan, Piutau
Capon, Thomas, Lahiff, Holmes, Harding, Whiteley, Sheedy, Lloyd
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant Referees: George Selwood and James Clarke
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Citing Officer: Chris Catling
Topic: R2 Bristol - Preview and thoughts (Read 1386 times)
Always a Wasp