In-demand Lee Blackett cautious over future after Wasps grief
Former Wasps coach is thriving at Scarlets who face Glasgow Warriors in the Challenge Cup semi-final but will take time to pick his next job
By
Daniel Schofield,
DEPUTY RUGBY UNION CORRESPONDENT
28 April 2023 ? 7:58pm
Wasps Head Coach Lee Blackett looks on ahead of the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Bath Rugby and Wasps a
Lee Blackett never got to experience the full seven stages of grief over Wasps? demise. Within two weeks of the Premiership club going bust last October, the head coach had been appointed Scarlets? backs coach, which has ensured he has had little time for reflection.
There is still a lingering sense of sadness for the lives upended and potential unfulfilled, but remarkably little bitterness.
?I have never really got to that anger stage,? Blackett said. ?Maybe because I was on to the next job, I did not have the energy to be angry. If you think hard about it, I would understand why you would be angry about it. I have never allowed myself to think like that.
?I don?t think back too much. As a coach, you are wired to thinking about the next job, but when you bump into someone or get a text, it brings it all back. Everyone involved at Wasps will have a special relationship from what they went through. When you are in the s--- together, it brings you tight. Unfortunately, we never got out of the s--- but that bond will remain for ever.?
Blackett was renowned as one of the most forward-thinking coaches in the Premiership, and his arrival in Wales coincided with a transformation in Scarlets? season. Since the start of the year, they won nine out of 10 matches, culminating in their thrilling 32-30 defeat of French giants Clermont Auvergne in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals. Glasgow Warriors stand between Scarlets and a first European final.
It is little wonder Blackett appears to be one of the hottest coaching properties going. His name is linked with roles at Bristol Bears, Newcastle Falcons and Edinburgh. There would be fewer better English short-term appointments for the England attack gig than Blackett, even if it seems that Steve Borthwick will turn in-house.
Blackett hopes to confirm his future in the coming weeks. ?I have not been in a rush to sort anything because everything we have been through in the last six-to-eight months has made me cautious about rushing my next decision,? Blackett said. ?The one thing I have learnt is I have really enjoyed my time at Scarlets and we will see what happens in the next couple of months.?
The transition from being a head coach back to being an assistant has been seamless, thanks to his sharing many of the same ideas and philosophies as head coach Dwayne Peel, and what he calls the ?ridiculous coachability? of the Scarlets squad. The ego check of no longer being the one calling the shots does not seem to have fazed Blackett.
?I will give him my opinion, but if Dwayne wants to go in a certain direction that?s where we are heading,? Blackett said. ?My opinion is not always right. I will always try to back my opinion with evidence, but if I can?t sell it then I comfortably sit with the coach going in a different direction. I am not arrogant enough to think my opinion is always right. Sometimes you can end up in trouble thinking that way.?
The change of environment has been refreshing in many different respects for Blackett, from the increased thinking time he gets on the three-hour-plus drive to Llanelli to the sheer variety of defensive systems in the United Rugby Championship. Most of all, Blackett has appreciated the in-season breaks that enabled more hands-on coaching.
?When you are in the Premiership, you go into every single week thinking about ?how
can we beat this next opposition?? and you don?t spend enough time thinking about how can I improve us as a team this week,? Blackett said. ?It is all performance, performance, performance. The difference with the URC [United Rugby Championship] is you have blocks of games and then quite big gaps, so you have time to review the previous block of games and trying to make us better. You feel like you are constantly evolving and improving.
?The arrogance of both leagues towards each other is insane. Open your eyes and see them as completely different leagues and appreciate their points of difference, rather than constantly looking to diminish them by looking at attendance figures or how many clubs are in the European knockouts.?
The various Wasps WhatsApp groups have periodic bursts of activity, with the squad now scattered far and wide.
Yet if Blackett has one wish for the season, beyond the Scarlets winning the Challenge Cup, it is for his former charge Jack Willis to get his hands on a trophy with Toulouse. ?Jack was so passionate about Wasps and so desperate to win a trophy with Wasps,? Blackett said. ?He never got to fulfil that ambition but, if he does it with Toulouse, then I will be made up for him.?
Topic: Lee Blackett interview (Read 1522 times)
Always a Wasp