Always a Wasp

Quote from: Neils on March 29, 2023, 10:44:40 PM

Quote from: Vespula Vulgaris on March 29, 2023, 09:31:34 PM

Let's face it we'd have jumped at the offer had we had the choice.

Of course we ( or our owners) would have but we see the RFU getting involved here. Where were they when WW and Wasps went belly up.

Well yes, where indeed.

I wonder how open PRL and the RFU are to Irish's P share being part of the deal?

The problem for me is when you go into the realms of reffing humans with technology as though they are robots. Slow motion, point of contact, let's look at it and look at it again etc. It's not that black and white because there is a human element involved.

It was blatantly obvious Steward had been intending to tackle or kick and was sold by the fact the ball had been knocked forward - it was a split second he had to react and he did what any human being would do when trying to avoid a collision and turned to the side. It should have been judged at normal speed, it was a rugby incident.

A further frustration is when all incidents in the game aren't adjudicated. Pick and choose isn't acceptable - the Ludlow incident is far worse and a failure to cite given the video evidence will be a huge injustice and damning of the whole system. And then there's the obvious seatbelt tackle on Watson that three international officials and a TMO 'failed' to see.

If I was Shaun Id stay well away from the rapidly sinking ship that is English rugby. Sweeney is still asleep at the wheel and should be long gone as per the advice of the DSMC. Hes thrown the English game under the bus to appease the EAs and now their players find the Prem such a walk in the park they are perpetually undercooked.

Borthwick had the guts to drop Farrell but sticking with Jack van Plodfoot really shows he is out of his depth - I dont think Ive ever seen such an obviously substandard number 9 in an England shirt. Im not sure hes even as good as an aged Youngs and hes not even good enough to be a Prem starter. Atrocious in all aspects of the game, he is particularly slow of thought and his useless boxkick set up Frances first try. Mitchell was on a different planet when he came on. Slade was awful and hid as much as he could, as was Dombrandt, and I really dont know why Watson was in the side.

Its inexplicable that we have France out there playing rugby with class, physicality and verve at test match intensity, and another plodding along like it was a mid table Premiership match on a pudding of a pitch. Englands skills were thoroughly second rate throughout.

The irony is that the greatest English coach in the professional era was with the visiting team and victors yet again because hes not good enough for the RFU, whilst the overhyped Seinfeld and the drowning Borthwick cobble together a stinker of a performance and sit together looking confused and lost. I hope Edwards enjoyed that because theres no one more deserving of handing the RFU their arses on a plate.

Quote from: Andywasp50 on February 15, 2023, 05:49:48 PM

there's a statement on the offy now:https://www.wasps.co.uk/news/wasps-confirm-return-for-202324-season/

That links to the December statement.

Sorry, missed that in my excitement!

I don?t have stats on Farrell?s kicking but it?s very poor these days - I would hedge a guess and say about 60% success. I was surprised at the commentary too and thought Farrell was abysmal because he kept trying grubber kicks when we were in their 22 - he just has no idea how to create space and pop a pass so his brain overloads and he reverts to kicking possession away. Mitchell showed him how do do it for Arundel?s try. Like Ross mentioned, OF throwing a tantrum when he got a taste of his own medicine was amusing.

Lawrence is a better 12 than OF, and Smith is a better 10, so why make him captain? Mitchell is a better 9 than JVP too and would link up well with Smith. Borthwick has brought too much baggage from his EAs and Tigers stints and English rugby will continue to suffer for it, eg bringing on Cole and Vunipola is plain embarrassing as they lumber around knackered before they?ve even started.

I was chuffed to see Jack play so well - I thought he was outstanding. Not sure if Borthwick was impressed though. Being interviewed by Bayfield afterwards he wouldn?t acknowledge him singing Willis?s praises and just said he wanted better ruck speed. I think all we?ve got is an Eddie Jones ?mini me? and are there for the taking in the next three games.

Also, I was staggered at the end when ITV cut mid interview with Borthwick to ?get the thoughts of? the female rugby commentator/ex player, which it deemed more important that the actual head coach. Crazy.

I can certainly understand the 'beggars can't be choosers' point of view which ever way the case is made regarding a move to Sixways. Huge respect to the Legends getting behind the set up to save the name of the club - time is running out and they need to find a way to save Wasps with limited options available, whilst jumping through hoops for the clowns that run the game.

However, the problem for me is that we were dramatically uprooted mid season and moved to Coventry on the basis we were about to go bust, mainly because we were tenants and didn't have our own ground. So we moved and went bust anyway, only to end up as tenants of another ground 120odd miles away from where the club spent the first 148 years of its existence.

I'm sure given the option the Legends would rather move Wasps back to the London area (as would I), but I don't share the opinion of anywhere will do. I think we've seen how much a club is intrinsically linked to its location and evolution as part of a community by the CCFC/Ricoh saga and the thoughts on here about 'cuckooing' at Sixways. I wasn't happy about moving to Coventry and have always been of the idea that if I like a sport, I want to watch it live, and so I'll weigh up the best local offering and go there. The club will have a profile in the town, there'll be info about it in my local media, there'll be tie ins with the local community and they'll be well known enough to chat about at work or the pub. A successful local club brings a lot of positive feeling to a place as well as being easy to get to for an afternoon or evening and share a pint with likeminded people.

In the last two or three years my interest in the game has waned because the whole professional set up is rotten. From Saracens cheating, their attitude, the feeble RFU punishments, the clutch of Saracens 'kick and chase' coaching clones - Borthwick, Sanderson, Wigglesworth etc, Baxter spouting off, ascerbic Eddie J losing his way and wrecking the careers of exciting English talent like Robson. The RFU and PRL are so in the pockets of the Cheats and Baxter that the Legends would be better off lobbying them than working with the so called 'Governing bodies'

What I'm getting to in a roundabout way is that I'll always be a Wasps fan and only a Wasps fan, but Sixways is too far for me to get to or fit in at a weekend, and I'm not sure I really want them back in a predictable Prem that's not fit for purpose anymore.

I'm happy to be a Championship fan from a distance and maybe go to the odd game, and I'll be very happy Wasps survive - that's what really matters. Hopefully all the Coventry and Midlands based fans are up for it and with the dedicated 'Southerners' will be there to take the club into a new era.

England lost the game when Ben Youngs came on and decided to kick the ball away at every opportunity. We were only any good when we decided to try and keep the ball in hand and build phases, ultimately pressing hard enough to get over the line and earn a lead we never looked like protecting.

The defence was embarrassing - players dropping off one on one tackles like their hands were greased. Malins is great going forward but he really doesn?t like tackling and slaps at players instead - real pre-Madonna stuff. Ben Curry kept falling off tackles around the breakdown and Steward doesn?t have much of a defensive game - and the RFU have the arrogance to ignore Shaun Edwards!!?

The set piece was poor - line outs in particular - and restarts horrendous. At times the England players chased the ball like kids and left huge spaces across the field which a better team would have exploited to the full. Scotland were good but no great shakes.

I think it?s time Sweeney fell on his sword. This will be a third fifth place finish he?s overseen alongside ours and Worcs demise plus the farcical tackling below the waist scandal. How insulting is it to the Prem that both 9s came from the same club - neither of them that convincing? On top of that, the Saracen?s contingent have a dull edge because they are so used to playing at 85% as they canter to the title they aren?t up to the intensity of test rugby any more - a story obvious by looking at the league table. Farrell is a 50/50 kicker now and his only contributions were slightly late hits on Russell.

English rugby is now in such a woeful state I feel like the professional domestic game is finished. Kick and chase the main tactic in a fearful Premiership where teams take lumps out of each other for the right to lose to the Cheats in the final. This mentality has permeated into the National coaching set up and there is nowhere left to go. The RFU has willingly strangled the game because they are beholden to a couple of highly influential clubs and are actively shrinking its appeal to have a 10 team prem. It?s about as exciting as the Scottish Football Prem and the two horse race it?s been for years.

I caught up with some mates this evening who used to really enjoy the Six Nations, but this year confessed to half watching the game and probably not watching any more of the tournament now England are fighting for the wooden spoon. The destruction the RFU has wrought on the game of late is scandalous.