Ex Wasps signing for new clubs

[Neils]

TRP suggests Launch going to Japan  for start of their season in December until next summer.

[ColonelWasp]

Pleased for Launchers that he's hopefully got something sorted as I'd heard that from a reliable source last week as well.

It's a bit of an upheaval for his family though even if "short term".

I still feel desperately upset for all of the players and staff with what they are having to go through although pleased that some of them are starting to find some alternatives now.

It would have been hard to see such a wasps Legend as Joe in another Premiership team's colours (not that I'm watching any of those games at the moment anyway)!

Hopefully Jack will get some game time this afternoon so will try and catch that maybe.

[Shugs]

What is encouraging is that both Launchbury and Willis are mentioned in the respective articles as signing short term deals so as to be available for Wasps next season - if that is at all possible.

[WonkyWasp]

Plus 1 Shugs.  I'm just praying too that the Wasp team might be able to re-assemble for the next season, altho' some might decide they prefer their ''new'' team  I hope that won't happen but there's that risk for many reasons.  A lot is resting  on the Legend's  shoulders ...  funding, re-homing, team,  wages,   - so very much. 

[Neils]

Plus 1 Shugs.  I'm just praying too that the Wasp team might be able to re-assemble for the next season, altho' some might decide they prefer their ''new'' team  I hope that won't happen but there's that risk for many reasons.  A lot is resting  on the Legend's  shoulders ...  funding, re-homing, team,  wages,   - so very much.

Very very much!

[JonnyD]

Not sure a championship team can shell out around 750k a season to keep Launchers and Jack.

Willis is going to hit his peak so cannot be playing championship level if he wants to play for England. Joe is probably done with England now so absolutely has to cash in as much as possible over the next three years or so, surely only Japan or France can offer that for him unless an English club lose a similarly high paid player in that position, of which there aren’t many. 

Exeter were rumoured to be in for him a while ago, but that might only come with a Johnny Gray exit, even with money freed up from Simmonds being off.
Sale maybe depending on the Du Preez brothers and Quins are definitely still short of quality at lock.

You’d think any club out there would also be on for Stooke with the quality he showed upon signing for us.
Hope Cardall might still have some interest from Gloucester

[Peej]

I still don't think there will be a Championship team, and if there is it wont include any of the stars.

Reports in France are that Jack is going to Toulouse.

[Shugs]

Care to expand Peej?

[NellyWellyWaspy]

I still don't think there will be a Championship team, and if there is it wont include any of the stars.

Reports in France are that Jack is going to Toulouse.

I know the RFU say we are down, but what about the 'Covid' appeal? Will we still be relegated after that is concluded?

[DGP Wasp]

I still don't think there will be a Championship team, and if there is it wont include any of the stars.

Reports in France are that Jack is going to Toulouse.

I know the RFU say we are down, but what about the 'Covid' appeal? Will we still be relegated after that is concluded?

I think the COVID appeal has legs for both Wasps and for Worcester, but that doesn't mean I think the powers that be will look on it particularly favourably.

Much will depend on the fate of the remaining 11 between now and the end of the season.  With cracks seemingly beginning to appear in the finances of one of those clubs that most would consider to be on a pretty sound financial footing (relatively speaking), and another 7 months until the end of the season, then it seems likely that others could go the same way, which would eventually render the prospect of automatic relegation unworkable, at which point, the RFU/PRL may see fit to turn to the COVID clause as justification for maintaining the status quo and allowing clubs in administration to continue in the Premiership, likely with a points deduction.

If Wasps are indeed relegated, then I still see it as no better than 50/50 whether we are in a position to take our place in the Championship.  The Legends' offer is encouraging, but raises just as many questions as it answers.  Time will tell.

[Lwasp]

But if the appeal is successful, or the relegation is commuted due to others being in the same boat, there is now nothing left to remain in the Premiership. The club is in administration with no players, no support staff etc. etc. Not sure that is any different a starting point to the Championship, other than the ownership of the P-Share and its associated TV money.

[DGP Wasp]

But if the appeal is successful, or the relegation is commuted due to others being in the same boat, there is now nothing left to remain in the Premiership. The club is in administration with no players, no support staff etc. etc. Not sure that is any different a starting point to the Championship, other than the ownership of the P-Share and its associated TV money.

And that's at least something.  Especially if we're one of 3 or 4 in the same boat.

I struggle to see a future for Wasps in the Championship and continuing to play at the CBS.  Locals with an interest in Championship rugby are already catered for.  Those who have continued to travel from the SE will be less inclined for Championship rugby rather than Premiership, and that leaves a handful of die hards rattling around in one stand of a 32K arena with zero atmosphere and surely operating at a loss on matchdays.  So if not the CBS then where?  The EPIC would be crucial if we are to have any hope of getting even a few the old squad back which makes a return to the SE unlikely (with or without a viable, available ground).  Without at least a small core of that squad to take us forward then it won't really feel like the same club at all.

So do you turn your back on the EPIC and up sticks from the Midlands entirely? if so, where to?
Keep plugging away at the CBS and hope to retain (or more accurately re-recruit) as many of the old squad as possible?
Could we find a more suitable venue for the Championship that would still allow Henley to serve as a training base while not directly competing with Cov RFC for support?
And all of this would likely play out with no P Share, renting whatever ground we end up at with no other revenue streams coming in. 
Maybe the Legends group has a solution to all of this, but there's a huge amount of work to be done.

[Peej]

Care to expand Peej?

I don't see how the club is viable without a stadium playing in the second tier. I don't see how we could afford the squad we had, or attract the talent we need, to bounce straight back up as a damaged brand, and if we can't go back up players who have short careers won't spend what's left of them with us.

And I don't see how the covid appeal works when we were losing 170k a week for 6 years.

Look, I'd love to be proven wrong. But I don't see much cause for optimism at the minute.

[Rossm]

I think the Covid appeal would, in a court of law, introduce enough reasonable doubt so that we would not be relegated. What happens after that, I know not.

[Neils]

I think the Covid appeal would, in a court of law, introduce enough reasonable doubt so that we would not be relegated. What happens after that, I know not.

The thing is - is there anyone left to take it to court?