Always a Wasp

Afraid so. Fwiw I don't think we would have set the league alight. Noises were being made about us being a bit more pragmatic, and frankly there were better teams at doing that.
Yes we had a great back row, but so does everyone. Most teams had superb 8s coming out their arse.
Maybe now we would be challenging for top table, maybe not. Despite the obvious quality I suspect we would have been in the melee, not looking down from on high.
It still hurts, I honestly have been watching zero prem rugby, I don't expect others to follow my lead, but won't understand those who do. Currently watching a bit of pro 14, not a great competition,  but it doesn't have cap cheats in.

England game was a corker.
For most of the last few years England have been held back by Farrell. Test match animal! Without him at 10 or 12 England can develop a plan of attack  as they have begun to do this 6n.

Farrell- with his one world cup 1/4 in two attempts- can stay well away from England. Ireland bottled that quarter. England had Burgess at centre thanks to Farrell.

On Cov vs us, iirc we had a buyer if the P share had not been removed. Cov did not have that issue, so yes, it is different, but not because they cleared their debts, we never had the chance to do that as our prospective buyers scarpered when the PRL said no p share.

Wasps are there with Bath and Tigers for recognition. It takes a special kind of moron to willingly avoid the fact that Wasps have that kind of status. Morons from Tigers abound, because they see gate attendance as equal to brand recognition, but that thinking avoids the fact that nobody outside of those with strong local connections supported Tigers. Not true for Bath, who have the advantage of being one of the most visited and adored cities in England, who often garner neutral support.
Here in Wales, they often refer to 'The Wasps'. Normally alongside the word 'giants'. Fallen giants nowadays. Giants is a word not applied to Sarries, but one reserved for Bath and Tigers. It might be 20 years out of date, but that is the way things are seen.

Of course they have imported players, and have done for a while.
England, however, should be smashing Scotland. Money, players, you name it England have more.
Our domestic self interest and rfu incompetence has a lot to answer for. It is beyond Eddie Jones, who was unorthodox in every way apart from tactics, we have not had a progressive coach in terms of tactics since Ashton, and only two since professionalism. Conservative coaches are fine, you need pragmatism sometimes. But it is too easy to blame Eddie for England's woes. It is deeper.

25 years ago we needed an Anglo Welsh league. Looking domestically and internationally at both England and Wales, we need one again.

Frankly, all sides,RFU, Prem clubs, and the championship clubs need to be smashed to a pulp. Championship clubs don't like old prem clubs parachuted in? Tough, those clubs were above you in crowd numbers and on the pitch. Bigger and better clubs.
End of. At the very minimum their presence enhances yours. Prem clubs want a closed shop. Tough. Jersey should have been promoted as should Ealing.
Rfu want to sort the game out- they had the opportunity 25 years ago and bottled it.

I think, especially with Tigers fans, there is an attitude that they don't mind two back, but not Wasps. The reaction when we went but was to talk about uncontested scrums, which says it all. There is a romantic notion that bankrupt clubs should start all over.
There is an even more blinkered view that they have done and Irish will be back having started at the bottom.
It is bullshit.

I am not just talking about venomous cretins who have been on at us for years on various message boards, either. The supposedly more moderate ones very much do not understand that Wasps had very large viewing figures, a result of the diaspora, which is why we had good coverage on TV.