Always a Wasp

So Warburton is going to be Captain again.  I don't get it.  I really don't.  I can't see why Gats would pick someone who isn't playing anywhere near their best, isnt Captaining their side, and plays for an international side that has failed to win anything of note.

I guess I'm going to be grumpy about this whole squad at this rate.  Though at least Elliot is in.

Well Launch is only standing in for Kruis after all...

Meh.  He could play in the A-team, like Frank, I suppose.



Oh, and ..... 

You got me for a moment...

That's a bit odd.  I have no idea why it might be, but you can always watch them on the Premiership site itself.

http://www.premiershiprugby.com/video/highlights-bristol-rugby-v-wasps-round-20/

Maybe counting our chickens before they've signed, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YlQQKKUS84

I'm still not sure if we did enough yesterday to stake our claim for silverware.

Yes we got the 5 points, and that is by far the most important thing.  Yes Thompson was great again, Bassett showed he is a great winger, Youngyoung showed a little of his form from the early part of the seaons.  Hasks showed a little of his hard hitting form, Beale and Willie leRoux whoeed their class, and Gopperth justified being first choice right now.

But...

Robson and Cipriani seemed off their usual great form.  Both can be truly great when they hit the straps, but they didn't realy seem to, and it feels symptomatic of the whole squad.  We always seem to play to the levelof our opponents.  We started off trying to find the magic early on and it went terribly wrong, but then even when we settled down and took our chances we seemed to take our foot off the gas.  Where was the hard edge?  Where was the desire to be the best we can be?  We got the 5 in the bag and then let off the pressure.

Was it simply Dai making sure all the bench got a decent run in case they have to play in a truly important game soon?  Or was it just the way we are?  If the former does getting a run count for more than the confidence of truly hammering another team?  And if the latter will it come back to bit us in the last couple of games of the real season, or in the playy-offs beyond.

I really don't know.

It could easily just be that I spent such a long time watching us lose games I knew we should be able to win.  Even after that season we spent a long time just giving in.  Often in games we were winning, or should have won easily.  This feels a little like the same thing.  It still feels alittle like Wasps are the brilliant kid at school who can do better than everyone else in the class, but has learned that they don't have to work hard to succeed.  Sooner or later there will be a point where natural ablity isn't enough any more, and if we haven't learned how to work for it then we may well come a cropper.

Either that or I am just panicking because this is all a bit exciting...

I agree about having sealed Bristol's fate.  I've been rooting for them since they signed TV2, more so since they got Siale and secured Alapti for next season too.

I thought we started a little to arrogantly.  We handed them the first try by trying silly things that were unlikely to come off and I think that osrt of thing would be our undoing against a better team.  Me managed to settle down a little and play through the phases after that.  It was nice to see a variety of different sorts of try being scored.  But I still felt we were trying too hard.  Extra long miss-passes and so on to try and force the score when the opprtunities just arrive by themselves when we keep playing the ball, passing it down the line and applying the pressure.

I can fully see why Dai started emptying the bench early once the game was away, but to be honest I wonder if we'd been better served by keeping the team on and showing a bit of ruthlessness.  As it was Cips and Robson seemed to add very little and I wish we'd stuck with Simmo and Gopps.  Alapati on the other hand showed some form again, I think he'd going to be a big loss

But 5 points secured all the same.  On to the next game now!