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392
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Pre season matches?
« on: July 22, 2019, 08:09:49 AM »
Just a thought but if there are no pre season hit outs against other clubs, we start playing on Sept 21 with a 23 man matchday squad, with at least 7 players required to play the full 80 minutes.
With normal preseason fixtures, rolling subs are the norm so that no one plays much more than 40 minutes and most of the squad can get some game time.
With normal preseason fixtures, rolling subs are the norm so that no one plays much more than 40 minutes and most of the squad can get some game time.
394
Wasps Rugby Discussion / 19/20 fixtures
« on: July 01, 2019, 09:28:10 PM »
A couple of Qs.
1. Do we know when the GP fistures will be announced?
2. Have the ECC weekends been allocated yet? If so, do we know when the fixtures are decided?
Reason for asking is that I and the boss, will probably go to all 3 away pool games. With shedloads of Avios to use, I need to get in early with flight bookings!
1. Do we know when the GP fistures will be announced?
2. Have the ECC weekends been allocated yet? If so, do we know when the fixtures are decided?
Reason for asking is that I and the boss, will probably go to all 3 away pool games. With shedloads of Avios to use, I need to get in early with flight bookings!
395
Wasps Rugby Discussion / JTA
« on: June 28, 2019, 10:50:01 PM »
JTA starts for the Canes at Crusaders in the Super 15 semi tomorrow.
396
Wasps Rugby Discussion / U20 RWC
« on: June 12, 2019, 09:28:57 PM »
Qualifiers for last 4 :
Oz, Arg, Fr & RSA.
Oz, Arg, Fr & RSA.
397
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Latest from the TRP
« on: June 12, 2019, 06:27:34 PM »
"A source close to the team has said that as well as Hartley, the players expect Danny Care, Chris Robshaw, Nathan Hughes and Chris Ashton to be left out, with Gloucester No.9 Willi Heinz included ahead of Care."
398
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Squad 2019/20
« on: June 11, 2019, 02:34:33 PM »
Picking up on Raggs previous post and recent announcements,
It does look as this will be the senior squad for next season :
LH : ZZ, McIntyre, Harris, West
Hooker : Cruse, Taylor, Johnson, Oghre
TH : JTA, Brookes, Daniels, Owlett, Alo
Locks: Launchbury, Rowlands, Gaskell, Matthews, Garratt, Cardell, Vukasinovic
Back row : Shields, J. Willis, Young, Reider, Morris, T. Willis, Carr, Vailanu
Scrumhalf : Robson, Vellacott, Porter
Flyhalf : Sopoaga, Searle
Centre : MLB, Neal, JdJ, Fekitoa, Gopps, Spink
Wing : Watson, Bassett, Sirker, Kibirige, Odowu
Fullback : Miller, Minozzi, James
47 players in total. I guess that Rob Miller will also offer an option at 10 as well as FB.
Looking forward to the new season. RWC should not disrupt us as much at others. A good opportunity to hit the ground running come GP time with great opportunities to use the PRC as a testing bed for different combos and for players to put their hands up.
Roll on September.
It does look as this will be the senior squad for next season :
LH : ZZ, McIntyre, Harris, West
Hooker : Cruse, Taylor, Johnson, Oghre
TH : JTA, Brookes, Daniels, Owlett, Alo
Locks: Launchbury, Rowlands, Gaskell, Matthews, Garratt, Cardell, Vukasinovic
Back row : Shields, J. Willis, Young, Reider, Morris, T. Willis, Carr, Vailanu
Scrumhalf : Robson, Vellacott, Porter
Flyhalf : Sopoaga, Searle
Centre : MLB, Neal, JdJ, Fekitoa, Gopps, Spink
Wing : Watson, Bassett, Sirker, Kibirige, Odowu
Fullback : Miller, Minozzi, James
47 players in total. I guess that Rob Miller will also offer an option at 10 as well as FB.
Looking forward to the new season. RWC should not disrupt us as much at others. A good opportunity to hit the ground running come GP time with great opportunities to use the PRC as a testing bed for different combos and for players to put their hands up.
Roll on September.
399
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Today's ST article
« on: June 09, 2019, 09:52:00 AM »
Stung again — spare a thought for homeless Coventry City as Wasps row rumbles on
Rod Liddle
It is 18 years since Coventry City last played in the Premier League, during which time they have come close to extinction, played in the lowest tier for the first time since 1959 and generally had a fairly awful time of it.
Last season gave fans a few reasons for optimism — manager Mark Robins had assembled a decent squad and a late run took them close to a place in the League One playoffs. But now, this. For the second time in the past 18 years, the Sky Blues are without a home of their own and will be playing next season’s home fixtures at St Andrew’s, in Birmingham, 21 miles away.
The club’s owners, the London hedge fund SISU, have failed to strike a deal with Wasps rugby union team, who play at — and own — the Ricoh Arena. Back in 2013-14 City played their home games at Sixfields stadium, home of Northampton Town, more than 32 miles distant. They had hoped those bad old days were gone. The decision to play at St Andrew’s was again a last-ditch attempt to prevent the club being expelled from the Football League on account of having nowhere to play.
A spokesman for SISU said “we are incredibly disappointed and frustrated” that no deal could be struck over the Ricoh Arena. Not as frustrated as the EFL — which agreed to the ground share with Birmingham City only with great reluctance — or, of course, the benighted fans. Last season Coventry City were the fifth best supported club in League One, with an average home attendance of 12,362, an improvement on the previous season’s average of 9,255. They will be very lucky to achieve half of that number next season: their average home league attendance while playing at Northampton’s ground was scarcely over 2,000.
The problems are myriad and complex. A long-standing row over the sale of the Ricoh Arena to Wasps rumbles on and is coming before the European Commission. City believe the ground was grossly undervalued when it was sold, to the tune of about £28m. But that is only the half of it.
Wasps are, on the face of it, an extremely successful rugby union club. They finished eighth in the Gallagher Premiership last season with an average attendance of 17,975 — a figure beaten only by Leicester Tigers. But their financial position is far more perilous than that of Coventry City and, frankly, they will be fortunate if they are in existence by the this time next year. Their debts, for a rugby club, are astonishing — £55.8m at the latest count after their pre-tax losses last season more than doubled to £9.7m.
The total owed to their Irish owner Derek Richardson, who six years ago rescued them from bankruptcy at the last minute, rose to £18.6m, which some estimate to be at least a third of the chap’s worth.
Worse still, Wasps now face a serious inquiry into alleged financial shenanigans, involving suggestions of grossly overstated profits, a breach of covenants regarding bonds and effectively lying about a million quid or so which Wasps marked down as capital revenue when actually it was another bung from the uniquely generous Richardson.
Meanwhile, hanging over them is the legal action that insists they got the Ricoh on the cheap. If I were a Wasps fan I would be looking at the relatively stable Coventry City with a degree of envy: City’s latest losses were less than £2m, which is around about what you might expect for a decent sized club in the third tier.
The Sky Blues supporters are, of course, beside themselves with fury that they will not be able to watch their team play in their home city and have been apt to blame the owners, as is so often the case.
This seems to me a bit harsh. Without the intervention of the hedge fund monkeys, Coventry City would not exist at all and SISU have put an awful lot of money into the club, without seeing very much in the way of a return.
Again one is tempted to ask why they have done this, but as they are all financial experts I suppose they must know what they are doing.
League One is rapidly becoming a sanctum of the lost and the dispossessed, given the travails of poor Bolton Wanderers.
There was a time, fairly recently, when Coventry City had the longest unbroken spell in the top tier of any club, Arsenal and Everton excepted — 34 years of pleasant over-achievement that included a memorable FA Cup final win over Tottenham Hotspur in 1987, participation in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a two-legged tie against Bayern Munich, and a top-six finish. And that delightful goal off a free kick scored by Ernie Hunt after Willie Carr’s illegal flick-up, which we all tried to copy in the playground.
Sentimentalists such as me, then, rather hope that Coventry’s problems come to an end very quickly. There is the suggestion now that City’s owners may attempt to build a new ground somewhere in the environs of Coventry. In which case, what on earth will happen to the Ricoh Arena if Wasps go bust? Or even if they don’t? It seems a little bit profligate in these straitened times.
Rod Liddle
It is 18 years since Coventry City last played in the Premier League, during which time they have come close to extinction, played in the lowest tier for the first time since 1959 and generally had a fairly awful time of it.
Last season gave fans a few reasons for optimism — manager Mark Robins had assembled a decent squad and a late run took them close to a place in the League One playoffs. But now, this. For the second time in the past 18 years, the Sky Blues are without a home of their own and will be playing next season’s home fixtures at St Andrew’s, in Birmingham, 21 miles away.
The club’s owners, the London hedge fund SISU, have failed to strike a deal with Wasps rugby union team, who play at — and own — the Ricoh Arena. Back in 2013-14 City played their home games at Sixfields stadium, home of Northampton Town, more than 32 miles distant. They had hoped those bad old days were gone. The decision to play at St Andrew’s was again a last-ditch attempt to prevent the club being expelled from the Football League on account of having nowhere to play.
A spokesman for SISU said “we are incredibly disappointed and frustrated” that no deal could be struck over the Ricoh Arena. Not as frustrated as the EFL — which agreed to the ground share with Birmingham City only with great reluctance — or, of course, the benighted fans. Last season Coventry City were the fifth best supported club in League One, with an average home attendance of 12,362, an improvement on the previous season’s average of 9,255. They will be very lucky to achieve half of that number next season: their average home league attendance while playing at Northampton’s ground was scarcely over 2,000.
The problems are myriad and complex. A long-standing row over the sale of the Ricoh Arena to Wasps rumbles on and is coming before the European Commission. City believe the ground was grossly undervalued when it was sold, to the tune of about £28m. But that is only the half of it.
Wasps are, on the face of it, an extremely successful rugby union club. They finished eighth in the Gallagher Premiership last season with an average attendance of 17,975 — a figure beaten only by Leicester Tigers. But their financial position is far more perilous than that of Coventry City and, frankly, they will be fortunate if they are in existence by the this time next year. Their debts, for a rugby club, are astonishing — £55.8m at the latest count after their pre-tax losses last season more than doubled to £9.7m.
The total owed to their Irish owner Derek Richardson, who six years ago rescued them from bankruptcy at the last minute, rose to £18.6m, which some estimate to be at least a third of the chap’s worth.
Worse still, Wasps now face a serious inquiry into alleged financial shenanigans, involving suggestions of grossly overstated profits, a breach of covenants regarding bonds and effectively lying about a million quid or so which Wasps marked down as capital revenue when actually it was another bung from the uniquely generous Richardson.
Meanwhile, hanging over them is the legal action that insists they got the Ricoh on the cheap. If I were a Wasps fan I would be looking at the relatively stable Coventry City with a degree of envy: City’s latest losses were less than £2m, which is around about what you might expect for a decent sized club in the third tier.
The Sky Blues supporters are, of course, beside themselves with fury that they will not be able to watch their team play in their home city and have been apt to blame the owners, as is so often the case.
This seems to me a bit harsh. Without the intervention of the hedge fund monkeys, Coventry City would not exist at all and SISU have put an awful lot of money into the club, without seeing very much in the way of a return.
Again one is tempted to ask why they have done this, but as they are all financial experts I suppose they must know what they are doing.
League One is rapidly becoming a sanctum of the lost and the dispossessed, given the travails of poor Bolton Wanderers.
There was a time, fairly recently, when Coventry City had the longest unbroken spell in the top tier of any club, Arsenal and Everton excepted — 34 years of pleasant over-achievement that included a memorable FA Cup final win over Tottenham Hotspur in 1987, participation in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a two-legged tie against Bayern Munich, and a top-six finish. And that delightful goal off a free kick scored by Ernie Hunt after Willie Carr’s illegal flick-up, which we all tried to copy in the playground.
Sentimentalists such as me, then, rather hope that Coventry’s problems come to an end very quickly. There is the suggestion now that City’s owners may attempt to build a new ground somewhere in the environs of Coventry. In which case, what on earth will happen to the Ricoh Arena if Wasps go bust? Or even if they don’t? It seems a little bit profligate in these straitened times.
400
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Eng squad v BaBas
« on: May 27, 2019, 01:23:47 PM »
Includes Josh and TT.
402
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Paul Gustard craves top four for Harlequins to prove system works
« on: May 18, 2019, 07:23:59 AM »
Alex Lowe, Deputy Rugby Correspondent
May 18 2019, 12:01am, The Times
Can you imagine Dai doing this?
As April ticked over into May, Paul Gustard looked back on a month that threatened to derail his promising first season in charge of Harlequins. The club lost all four games that they played in April, three in the league and the European Challenge Cup semi-final away to Clermont Auvergne.
Gustard gathered his players together for a meeting. Harlequins had two games left in which to secure qualification for the Gallagher Premiership semi-finals. He needed to steel their resolve.
The 43-year-old — a former flanker who was part of the Leicester Tigers squad that won four titles in a row from 1998-99 to 2001-02 — was defence coach for Saracens when England offered him the same role. Two and a half years later, Harlequins gave him his first crack at the top job: head of rugby.
Before his first season was out, he could reflect on transforming Harlequins from the timorous team that finished tenth last year into a side that had qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup. Gustard, though, was not content. He wanted a top-four finish as validation for his own methods and to build the squad’s confidence. In that meeting, Gustard called on Harlequins to seize the opportunity but he delivered the message by telling his players a personal story; a tale of divorce, murder, humanity and charity. “If not now, when?” he asked the squad.
“About ten years ago, I was on the Tube reading the Evening Standard and I saw something on the Dispossessed Fund, which helped a collection of charities around London. This guy [Les Persaud] had lost his 16-year-old son, who had been stabbed [and battered by a Croydon gang] in a brutal attack.
“The kid’s friends were all like, ‘We are going after these guys,’ but the father had the clarity of thought and purpose to say, ‘Boys, I don’t want you to go out there and seek retribution for Stefan. That won’t solve anything.’
“He started a congregation to get the boys together to talk about his son, to talk about life, to be a father figure. They used to meet in McDonald’s every Tuesday. On the back of that he started a charity.
“At the time I read that, I was searching for some more meaning in life. I was going through a divorce. For the first six to nine months after the break-up I probably wasn’t a great person. I drank too much and probably didn’t respect myself or the club enough.
“There were moments when I thought I needed to change. I was looking for something and this struck a chord: ‘Who else will read this and do something?’ It was a tiny charity and I thought I could help. He would go into schools and talk to the more volatile kids and try and calm them. It was a completely different life to mine and I found it very rewarding, very fulfilling. That definitely helped me understand about being the person I would rather be.
“The reason I told this to the boys was that I was on that Tube thinking, ‘This guy looks like he could do with some help.’ It came down to thinking, ‘If not me, who? If not now, when? I want to get involved.’
“I was trying to say to the players, ‘Step up, step up, because we are close.’ We had picked up two points from 25 and that is why we were not comfortably in the semi-finals. We are almost there, where we need to be.”
Gustard is delivering a message — in this case “now is the time” — that professional players have heard hundreds of times before, but “we try and do it in a way that engages you”, Gustard said. “If I tell them a story, they will listen, they will remember it.”
Having lost three games in a row by the combined total of eight points, Harlequins responded with a 23-19 win against Leicester Tigers, but Northampton Saints still hold a one-point advantage in the race for fourth place going into today’s final game.
If Harlequins can win away to Wasps, Northampton will need to become only the second team in 14 months to beat Exeter Chiefs in a Premiership game at Sandy Park.
“I would be annoyed [to miss out on the top four],” Gustard said. “I would be disappointed for the players. It has taken a big shift in mentality, emotionally and technically from where they were to where we are now.
“If we get into the top four then people see that how we train works, how we do meetings works, how the policy of rotation works. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t think I could make a positive change. I want to finish fourth so we can win the league.”
The charity with which Gustard linked up all those years ago was called Potential. He graduated from helping in the schools to raising funds, which included £4,000 for running a midnight half-marathon in Brighton. The experience helped to shape Gustard as a person and his coaching style too. It may even have a small bearing in shaping Harlequins’ season — if they can seize the moment this afternoon.
May 18 2019, 12:01am, The Times
Can you imagine Dai doing this?
As April ticked over into May, Paul Gustard looked back on a month that threatened to derail his promising first season in charge of Harlequins. The club lost all four games that they played in April, three in the league and the European Challenge Cup semi-final away to Clermont Auvergne.
Gustard gathered his players together for a meeting. Harlequins had two games left in which to secure qualification for the Gallagher Premiership semi-finals. He needed to steel their resolve.
The 43-year-old — a former flanker who was part of the Leicester Tigers squad that won four titles in a row from 1998-99 to 2001-02 — was defence coach for Saracens when England offered him the same role. Two and a half years later, Harlequins gave him his first crack at the top job: head of rugby.
Before his first season was out, he could reflect on transforming Harlequins from the timorous team that finished tenth last year into a side that had qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup. Gustard, though, was not content. He wanted a top-four finish as validation for his own methods and to build the squad’s confidence. In that meeting, Gustard called on Harlequins to seize the opportunity but he delivered the message by telling his players a personal story; a tale of divorce, murder, humanity and charity. “If not now, when?” he asked the squad.
“About ten years ago, I was on the Tube reading the Evening Standard and I saw something on the Dispossessed Fund, which helped a collection of charities around London. This guy [Les Persaud] had lost his 16-year-old son, who had been stabbed [and battered by a Croydon gang] in a brutal attack.
“The kid’s friends were all like, ‘We are going after these guys,’ but the father had the clarity of thought and purpose to say, ‘Boys, I don’t want you to go out there and seek retribution for Stefan. That won’t solve anything.’
“He started a congregation to get the boys together to talk about his son, to talk about life, to be a father figure. They used to meet in McDonald’s every Tuesday. On the back of that he started a charity.
“At the time I read that, I was searching for some more meaning in life. I was going through a divorce. For the first six to nine months after the break-up I probably wasn’t a great person. I drank too much and probably didn’t respect myself or the club enough.
“There were moments when I thought I needed to change. I was looking for something and this struck a chord: ‘Who else will read this and do something?’ It was a tiny charity and I thought I could help. He would go into schools and talk to the more volatile kids and try and calm them. It was a completely different life to mine and I found it very rewarding, very fulfilling. That definitely helped me understand about being the person I would rather be.
“The reason I told this to the boys was that I was on that Tube thinking, ‘This guy looks like he could do with some help.’ It came down to thinking, ‘If not me, who? If not now, when? I want to get involved.’
“I was trying to say to the players, ‘Step up, step up, because we are close.’ We had picked up two points from 25 and that is why we were not comfortably in the semi-finals. We are almost there, where we need to be.”
Gustard is delivering a message — in this case “now is the time” — that professional players have heard hundreds of times before, but “we try and do it in a way that engages you”, Gustard said. “If I tell them a story, they will listen, they will remember it.”
Having lost three games in a row by the combined total of eight points, Harlequins responded with a 23-19 win against Leicester Tigers, but Northampton Saints still hold a one-point advantage in the race for fourth place going into today’s final game.
If Harlequins can win away to Wasps, Northampton will need to become only the second team in 14 months to beat Exeter Chiefs in a Premiership game at Sandy Park.
“I would be annoyed [to miss out on the top four],” Gustard said. “I would be disappointed for the players. It has taken a big shift in mentality, emotionally and technically from where they were to where we are now.
“If we get into the top four then people see that how we train works, how we do meetings works, how the policy of rotation works. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t think I could make a positive change. I want to finish fourth so we can win the league.”
The charity with which Gustard linked up all those years ago was called Potential. He graduated from helping in the schools to raising funds, which included £4,000 for running a midnight half-marathon in Brighton. The experience helped to shape Gustard as a person and his coaching style too. It may even have a small bearing in shaping Harlequins’ season — if they can seize the moment this afternoon.
403
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Team selection for Quins
« on: May 16, 2019, 01:51:48 PM »
I just hope that Dai pickes on form and not sentiment. It would be particularly harsh, purely IMHO if he selected Daly over JdeJ for the 13 shirt.
My starting XV (asssuming all fit) FWIW would be :
ZZ, Cruse, Brookes, Launch, Jamma, Shields, Nemo, Nate, Simmo, Lima, Josh, Gaby, JdeJ, Marcus, Miller.
Bench : Big Mac, TT, Stuart, Rowlands, Ash, Hampson, Daly, WLR.
But then, I'm not Dai and it is his train set!!
We will know the reality come midday tomorrow.
My starting XV (asssuming all fit) FWIW would be :
ZZ, Cruse, Brookes, Launch, Jamma, Shields, Nemo, Nate, Simmo, Lima, Josh, Gaby, JdeJ, Marcus, Miller.
Bench : Big Mac, TT, Stuart, Rowlands, Ash, Hampson, Daly, WLR.
But then, I'm not Dai and it is his train set!!
We will know the reality come midday tomorrow.
404
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Borthwick turned us down
« on: May 15, 2019, 07:07:49 AM »
According to reports in the press today, Steve Borthwick has rejected an off from Wasps to join the coaching team.
405
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Latest from Dai
« on: May 13, 2019, 06:46:36 PM »
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/rugby/wasps-rugby-transfer-updates-coach-16270479
Does not make good reading.
Does not make good reading.