Always a Wasp
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1
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Wasps update February 2024
« on: February 26, 2024, 09:30:59 PM »
As a Kent resident my guess is the Dartford stadium until a new one is built.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Kent!
« on: October 24, 2023, 08:00:16 PM »Where are you, BdeB?
I am in Ickham, where my wife's father used to be vicar.
I am in Canterbury where I am a vicar!
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Kent!
« on: October 23, 2023, 05:51:23 PM »
Also Canterbury based here and very surprised by this. Last year the Times quoted an RFU report that identified Kent (actually Canterbury) as the place where a professional team might be the most sustainable, so maybe that is behind some of this thinking. A huge catchment area with very little professional sport to compete with. Wealthy Home Counties and a rugby area. Fast links to North London via ebbsfleet and lots of road links. If it is going to work anywhere it is probably as good a place as any.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / What could have been.
« on: March 08, 2023, 12:16:07 PM »
i do wonder what might have happened if this had been built in Sudbury and we had not embarked on the pilgrimage.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Worcester Wasps?
« on: February 06, 2023, 01:18:07 PM »
Rumour on Twitter that Wasps will be playing in Worcester. Merger? Takeover?
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Ex Wasps signing for new clubs
« on: November 11, 2022, 06:39:06 PM »
Alfie to Bath according to Chris Foy.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Could have been different
« on: November 11, 2022, 01:39:32 PM »
The Times reporting that Derek Richardson vetoed a possible bid that could have saved the club going into administration and the job losses.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Possible futures
« on: October 18, 2022, 11:34:28 AM »
What a horrible few days, just so sad with more sadness to come as we see ‘our’ players playing for different clubs. As someone who started as a junior member at Sudbury in the amateur days this all leaves a huge hole. But as an optimist I do hope that there is a future. Safe to say the prem has gone for next season and I can’t see any surviving club playing at the CBS. I think the main hope for a professional future might be a buyer merging us with Worcester to become Worcester Wasps. Worcester’s ground plus our training facilities with merged support could see a club survive in the championship push for promotion and somewhere down the line get established back in the prem. this would all need a buyer but maybe there is one out there who couldn’t afford the CBS but could afford this. Otherwise I hope Wasps survive even as an amateur club somewhere and maybe even back near to Sudbury.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Wasps facing relegation
« on: October 05, 2022, 12:59:19 PM »A measure of the progress of our negotiations could be seen in whether we pick up any Worcester players who are now free agents. In any other circumstances we would be in prime position to sign them. Geography, need, room in the cap. The only thing that would stop us is if we have an uncertain future. If we sign any of them I would take it as a very good sign. Not signing them might be a worrying sign.
Or maybe we don't want any of them.
Hence the word ‘might’. I think if we sign some it is a very good sign not signing any might not mean anything.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Wasps facing relegation
« on: October 05, 2022, 12:39:43 PM »A measure of the progress of our negotiations could be seen in whether we pick up any Worcester players who are now free agents. In any other circumstances we would be in prime position to sign them. Geography, need, room in the cap. The only thing that would stop us is if we have an uncertain future. If we sign any of them I would take it as a very good sign. Not signing them might be a worrying sign.
Why would any of them sign for a club that might also imminently fold?
I think that's the point. If they do sign it could be a sign that we aren't about to fold.
Exactly my point. They won’t want to sign for a club on the brink. The club might not be in a position to sign because of imminent admiration. Any signing would point to a secure future.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Wasps facing relegation
« on: October 05, 2022, 11:33:34 AM »
A measure of the progress of our negotiations could be seen in whether we pick up any Worcester players who are now free agents. In any other circumstances we would be in prime position to sign them. Geography, need, room in the cap. The only thing that would stop us is if we have an uncertain future. If we sign any of them I would take it as a very good sign. Not signing them might be a worrying sign.
12
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Match Thread
« on: September 23, 2022, 09:54:39 PM »
There was an article at the beginning of the season I think in the Times where various DORs were asked about pre-season and the season ahead. One question was about fitness during preseason and Lee said he didn’t really look at it and they didn’t collect the numbers like other clubs. I thought it was odd and worrying as for me I thought fitness would be an absolute given. These second half collapses and the need to substitute players at set times makes me think that our fitness is lacking.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Wasps facing relegation
« on: September 21, 2022, 11:06:06 PM »
If you were a rich potential owner, why would you write off £35m+ ?
Presumably you'd only do that if you had an affinity for the club.
So, the next question would be "where were you ~10 years ago?"
I worry that there isn't a rich benefactor with enough love for Wasps to write off that kind of debt
9 years ago a man named Jim Ratcliffe had been busy buying up petro chemical facilities that the big companies, like ICI and BP, were trying to get out of, and he was hugely in debt as a result. Reportedly hundreds of millions. He paid that debt off, but it took him a few years. Around 2015 he started to make headway and started to make substantial positive cashflow. Now, he is estimated to have a personal wealth of £20+bn. Right now, with the current crisis, he is making as much as £50m a week.
He is known to be able to buy Man Utd with petty cash, if the Glazers were willing to sell (they are not). He is, as they say 'in the market'. Is he a rugby fan? I do not know. He attended Beverley Grammar School and most likely would have played rugby there.
He sponsors a cycling team. He owns two football clubs. He has a willingness to invest in sport.
This is the solution I have wondered about for a while. Sir Dave Brailsford looks after Ineos’ sporting portfolio which has also included Americas cup, F1 and projects like the sub 2 hour marathon. Wasps set up with a women’s team, the netball and a good stadium might appeal more than if we were just a rugby club. Radcliffe owns Nice football club and their stadium is amazing. It is all peanuts compared to his bid for Man Utd but if he does get Man U I can’t see him bothering with us. It might be a very long shot but I think it might be the only shot and not completely beyond the realms of possibility.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Recruitment freeze lifted
« on: September 02, 2022, 09:31:11 PM »I disagree, I believe Alfie is at his best running off the back of a scrum or as a crash ball runner from line outs. Getting tied in and tired out from front row scrummaging and line out throwing takes away a lot of his running with the ball threats.
I'm happy for him and Tom Willis to share the load at number 8.
But this is what we don’t know without trying it out. Will there be a big drop off in his running game? Maybe his power at scrummaging would be a huge asset? What is clear is that he won’t be a regular line out option so you have to find that elsewhere. Ideally all your back 5 can be jumpers, everyone that is not reduces your options and makes you more predictable to defend against.
This all assumes that he has any real background as a hooker.
I'm aware that he played some agree grade games at hooker.
The only match report that I was able to find says that he was an absolute beast, but his lineout throwing was wayward.
Since then he has said that he only ever played a few games at hooker so it's not even a natural position for him.
We may as well be talking about training Jack Willis as a hooker
He played hooker all his youth representative career and for England age groups at hooker, that is about as good a pedigree as a young player could have. The Jack Willis comment is a bit silly isn’t it. You don’t get 6’3 hookers.
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Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Recruitment freeze lifted
« on: September 02, 2022, 08:14:47 PM »I disagree, I believe Alfie is at his best running off the back of a scrum or as a crash ball runner from line outs. Getting tied in and tired out from front row scrummaging and line out throwing takes away a lot of his running with the ball threats.
I'm happy for him and Tom Willis to share the load at number 8.
But this is what we don’t know without trying it out. Will there be a big drop off in his running game? Maybe his power at scrummaging would be a huge asset? What is clear is that he won’t be a regular line out option so you have to find that elsewhere. Ideally all your back 5 can be jumpers, everyone that is not reduces your options and makes you more predictable to defend against.