Always a Wasp
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106
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Thanks!
« on: June 04, 2022, 11:34:25 PM »Ever since I played my first season (over 50 years ago now), I really want summer to be over with and for the new season to start.
Two reasons why I agree with this.
1: I am a skier, and a true winter fan! Cold frosty mornings, sub zero temperatures/ice days and the constant dream of snow has been an obession since I was a kid.
2: End of summer equals start of Rugby season! As a player and fan there is nothing better than the days shortening, the temperatures cooling and the rugby balls pumped up and kits washed ready for a new season to begin!
107
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Leicester v Wasps: Post Match Thoughts
« on: June 04, 2022, 11:29:03 PM »
Is Lee a quality coach?...I think we can all agree he is. Is Lee a head coach?....unfortunately I am not so sure at present.
108
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Leicester v Wasps: Post Match Thoughts
« on: June 04, 2022, 07:01:16 PM »I’ve said this is previous post, I’m worried about next year. Forward will be on par or better than the rest of the league if we don’t get a massive injury list. I’ve been watching wasps since 2016 and this is the worst back division I’ve seen. The major concern is I don’t see it being any different next year, only one significant signing who may come to us in Oct/Nov after a full season in SA and the same coaching staff so what’s going to improve. Still the same questions at 12&13 question marks over 10 & 15, hopefully with game time Atkinson and Crossdale and solve these. How long before the superstars in the forwards get frustrated with playing in a mediocre team and not even challenging for silverware
Covkid, I have been a Waspy since our amateur days (although cannot remember all of it as i was a nipper in the 80s) and I agree with you, this is the worst I have seen a back division in a Wasps shirt. I also share your worries as well. We have some absolute quality in the forwards, and the coaches and backs are letting them down. If we do not do better next season than we will lose them. Lee, the coaches and the backs need to step up as they have let the forwards down.
109
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Leicester v Wasps: Post Match Thoughts
« on: June 04, 2022, 05:57:11 PM »
I feel the nucleus of a good backs team is there. Odogwu, Porter, Spink, Crossdale, Atkinson have huge potential. Umaga, Robbo if they can be more consistent are some of the best players in the league when they hit their straps. We do miss a physical ball carrier, and have to hope Odendaal is fit and firing to fill that role.
It is the lack of cohesion that worries me, the skill aspects mentions (passing, kicking, catching) is not just on the players shoulders but also our skills coach. But when we cannot get past one phase ball in hand, and when you look at the running lines, movement on set plays, ability to support line breaks, defensive unity, transitioning from attack to defence and visa versa not one of them are on the same page, and that IS a coaching problem. We do not have a dedicated backs coach and it shows. This off season we need to find one!
It is the lack of cohesion that worries me, the skill aspects mentions (passing, kicking, catching) is not just on the players shoulders but also our skills coach. But when we cannot get past one phase ball in hand, and when you look at the running lines, movement on set plays, ability to support line breaks, defensive unity, transitioning from attack to defence and visa versa not one of them are on the same page, and that IS a coaching problem. We do not have a dedicated backs coach and it shows. This off season we need to find one!
110
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Match Thread
« on: June 04, 2022, 05:03:23 PM »
Not blowing my trumpet because i wanted to be wrong, but I called 9th and it turned out that way.
111
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Leicester v Wasps: Post Match Thoughts
« on: June 04, 2022, 04:59:46 PM »
Forwards hold your heads up, Backs hang them.
Do not deserve to be in the Champions Cup.
Question marks strongly over our coaching team.
First things first, well done Tigers. They spent large quantities of the game with neither field position or possession, yet their defence held up wonderfully, and despite a breakaway try from us from Porter they had us comfortably under control. A true measure of them though was when their chances came, they took them, they will be very hard to beat this season.
We though, where do you begin. I guess lets start with the positives. Our forwards throughout this season have grown as a unit, the line out, scrum looks far more solid, and definitely it is something to build on. With a pre season under their belts the likes of Launchers, Willis brother, Alfie, West and co really can hit the ground running. What is shameful though is the backs. At the start of the season we were missing many players at times, but at least they looked coherent, could go through phases and defend as a unit. This however over the last few rounds has completely crumbled, the defence in the wider channels were particularly absent, the play fractured, and today was a clear example where they can no longer go through more than one phase without falling apart. They all run different lines, get in each others way, make schoolboy errors with dropped passes, missed tackles and missed passes. Atkinson is too anonymous, Umaga (although not there today), Robbo, Umaga too inconsistent. Gopps -although a legend- too slow. There are problems across the entire division. A lot of players need to prove an awful lot next year.
But to blame them as a whole would be unfair. All of what I have mentioned above also falls squarely on the coaches. When an entire backs division is THAT bad, the likelihood is the coaches who have coached them have let them down. I do not think we have a specific backs coach, but our skills coach and Lee will need to take a large amount of blame. It is their failures that has led to us not getting into the champions cup, and that does have large ramifications on our attractiveness as a club and also our ability to get that which we really need, exposure and revenue. I will be honest here and admit I am furious at how bad things have gone in the backs, but that fury has not clouded my judgement, as despite today being a great example of how bad our backs have become, it is a opinion formed on watching every game this season.
We need a backs coach desperately, the lack of cohesion of the backs, picking players out of position, having centres that made little impact no matter the parings, the complete lack of ability to play multi phase with ball in hand, the lack of skill, the poor decision making, it all needs fixing, and what we know now is that Lee and the current coaches cannot do it on their own, this season is proof of such. We made huge positive steps with our forwards and all that has been lost with the collapse of the backs....this is for the coaches to own.
Next season now is huge for us! We have to get into the top 4, we have to get into the Champions cup. Is Lee the man to take us forward, I am not sure at present. I certainly do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater because the forwards have improved. But we will need to see tangible results next year. The forwards deserve better from the backs, and the backs clearly deserve better from the coaches. If we see what we have seen in the second half of this season at the start of the next, then coaching changes will need to be made rapidly, Lee and the coaches have now been in place long enough to start moving this team forward, because since the final against Exeter we have moved tangibly backwards, and next season it is going to hurt us, not only because we will be watching from the outside of the biggest European tournament, but because we are financially worse off due to it.
Chris
Once a Wasp ALWAYS a Wasp!
Do not deserve to be in the Champions Cup.
Question marks strongly over our coaching team.
First things first, well done Tigers. They spent large quantities of the game with neither field position or possession, yet their defence held up wonderfully, and despite a breakaway try from us from Porter they had us comfortably under control. A true measure of them though was when their chances came, they took them, they will be very hard to beat this season.
We though, where do you begin. I guess lets start with the positives. Our forwards throughout this season have grown as a unit, the line out, scrum looks far more solid, and definitely it is something to build on. With a pre season under their belts the likes of Launchers, Willis brother, Alfie, West and co really can hit the ground running. What is shameful though is the backs. At the start of the season we were missing many players at times, but at least they looked coherent, could go through phases and defend as a unit. This however over the last few rounds has completely crumbled, the defence in the wider channels were particularly absent, the play fractured, and today was a clear example where they can no longer go through more than one phase without falling apart. They all run different lines, get in each others way, make schoolboy errors with dropped passes, missed tackles and missed passes. Atkinson is too anonymous, Umaga (although not there today), Robbo, Umaga too inconsistent. Gopps -although a legend- too slow. There are problems across the entire division. A lot of players need to prove an awful lot next year.
But to blame them as a whole would be unfair. All of what I have mentioned above also falls squarely on the coaches. When an entire backs division is THAT bad, the likelihood is the coaches who have coached them have let them down. I do not think we have a specific backs coach, but our skills coach and Lee will need to take a large amount of blame. It is their failures that has led to us not getting into the champions cup, and that does have large ramifications on our attractiveness as a club and also our ability to get that which we really need, exposure and revenue. I will be honest here and admit I am furious at how bad things have gone in the backs, but that fury has not clouded my judgement, as despite today being a great example of how bad our backs have become, it is a opinion formed on watching every game this season.
We need a backs coach desperately, the lack of cohesion of the backs, picking players out of position, having centres that made little impact no matter the parings, the complete lack of ability to play multi phase with ball in hand, the lack of skill, the poor decision making, it all needs fixing, and what we know now is that Lee and the current coaches cannot do it on their own, this season is proof of such. We made huge positive steps with our forwards and all that has been lost with the collapse of the backs....this is for the coaches to own.
Next season now is huge for us! We have to get into the top 4, we have to get into the Champions cup. Is Lee the man to take us forward, I am not sure at present. I certainly do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater because the forwards have improved. But we will need to see tangible results next year. The forwards deserve better from the backs, and the backs clearly deserve better from the coaches. If we see what we have seen in the second half of this season at the start of the next, then coaching changes will need to be made rapidly, Lee and the coaches have now been in place long enough to start moving this team forward, because since the final against Exeter we have moved tangibly backwards, and next season it is going to hurt us, not only because we will be watching from the outside of the biggest European tournament, but because we are financially worse off due to it.
Chris
Once a Wasp ALWAYS a Wasp!
112
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Match Thread
« on: June 04, 2022, 03:43:50 PM »
Same problems with the backs continue.
113
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Morning all!
« on: June 04, 2022, 06:45:16 AM »
Good morning from a grey, but jubilee festive Guildford! As usual I am up with the lark, coffee is on the go and dog walking awaits. Yet before silly season begins and the lads take a well deserved rest we have one more task against Leicester Tigers to get through.
Today is really simple….win! Style, performance does not matter, that is for pre season and the warm up games before next term. Even if today is the ugliest win we ever produce the reward is champions cup rugby, and being in that tournament is important. It gives greater exposure and revenue to the club, and as players, coaches and fans we all want to be tilting for the biggest trophies against the biggest teams. Tigers are fully loaded and are going for the Premiership trophy and a home semi final, they will be pumped and motivated. But it is against odds like these the true nature of the team comes out. A win for us can be that moment in years to come where we look back, and go that was when our success began!
Come on you Wasps!
Chris
Once a Wasp ALWAYS a Wasp!
Today is really simple….win! Style, performance does not matter, that is for pre season and the warm up games before next term. Even if today is the ugliest win we ever produce the reward is champions cup rugby, and being in that tournament is important. It gives greater exposure and revenue to the club, and as players, coaches and fans we all want to be tilting for the biggest trophies against the biggest teams. Tigers are fully loaded and are going for the Premiership trophy and a home semi final, they will be pumped and motivated. But it is against odds like these the true nature of the team comes out. A win for us can be that moment in years to come where we look back, and go that was when our success began!
Come on you Wasps!
Chris
Once a Wasp ALWAYS a Wasp!
114
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: PRL & Relegation
« on: June 02, 2022, 03:34:04 PM »
Promotion and relegation is a must, there should always be a pathway to the top for any club with the ambition and drive to get there. What we do not want to see however is another London Welsh shambles, and to be fair it is still sad to see how professionalism hurt teams such as Blackheath, Coventry, Orrell and West Hartlepool to mention but a few. People do mention the lack of support from the RFU and other entities to the grass roots game, but our club level sport is not a massive National or global entity, and we must also accept that only very few have chance of making it as the appetite and appeal of the clubs in the lower leagues is much much less than football for example. Indeed just one division below championship games attendances are around that you would see in level 6-7 of the football pyramid (ie National league north/south, Isthmian premier). This is not good for income through exposure, sponsorship, ticket, clothing revenues and general overall revenue etc. Even the Gallagher Premiership has attendances that match lower levels of league 1 to top of league 2 with its footballing counterparts.
It is that underlying fragility that we must admit and accept when we look towards promotion and relegation. Do I like moratoriums for promotion, relegation, definitely not. But a more considered approach with the play offs to decide promotion and relegation. With - and although it seems unfair given the problems with Ealing gaining promotion due to certain criteria not being met - Due diligence to prevent another London Welsh episode, I think it’s not as easy a subject, nor cut and dried decision to have promotion and relegation as we may consider it to be.
It is that underlying fragility that we must admit and accept when we look towards promotion and relegation. Do I like moratoriums for promotion, relegation, definitely not. But a more considered approach with the play offs to decide promotion and relegation. With - and although it seems unfair given the problems with Ealing gaining promotion due to certain criteria not being met - Due diligence to prevent another London Welsh episode, I think it’s not as easy a subject, nor cut and dried decision to have promotion and relegation as we may consider it to be.
115
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Confirmed: SA sides in Europe from next season
« on: June 02, 2022, 03:12:10 PM »
It may seem counterintuitive but the presence of the SA teams in a European competition exposes the fallacy of trying to make out our wonderful sport is a global game. South Africa are not capable of producing their own league, the old pro 12 was so weak it brought in the S.A teams in an attempt to improve it, however the result is the URC, which is a bloated, uninteresting competition that is a logistical nightmare for the clubs and fans involved. That in itself shows lack of global appeal.
If our sport was as successful as those in power want it to be, South Africa and their continent would have leagues and completions to be proud of, and matches against clubs from other completions across the globe would be ones to savour.
What we have is the shoehorning of teams into a competition based upon the collective failures of the leagues that they have played and currently play in. I think this is an experiment which will be as successful as the Anglo-Welsh cup.
If our sport was as successful as those in power want it to be, South Africa and their continent would have leagues and completions to be proud of, and matches against clubs from other completions across the globe would be ones to savour.
What we have is the shoehorning of teams into a competition based upon the collective failures of the leagues that they have played and currently play in. I think this is an experiment which will be as successful as the Anglo-Welsh cup.
116
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: Wade to Exeter - TRP Rumour
« on: May 22, 2022, 11:47:11 AM »
If we can get him to return a good and intense preseason would bring back the old mental and muscle memory for the game. However for him to really thrive we need to get all the backs working well again.
117
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: What a farce
« on: May 21, 2022, 08:36:34 PM »
How to make friends and influence people! 
118
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: We have a chance for HC rugby.
« on: May 21, 2022, 07:12:23 PM »It is sport - anything is possible.
That is probably the most accurate statement you can make about sport, and also why it keeps bringing us back week after week!
119
Wasps Rugby Discussion / Re: We have a chance for HC rugby.
« on: May 21, 2022, 05:51:36 PM »
Its a chance, and probably one that we do not deserve. I doubt anyone will give us a chance against Tigers, and quite rightly as well.
BUT
Our team has a lot to prove to not only us, but more importantly to themselves. For those remaining and coming next season, and to those leaving come seasons end, a victory against the odds and qualification for the HC would be something to be cherished!
BUT
Our team has a lot to prove to not only us, but more importantly to themselves. For those remaining and coming next season, and to those leaving come seasons end, a victory against the odds and qualification for the HC would be something to be cherished!
120
Wasps Rugby Discussion / We have a chance for HC rugby.
« on: May 21, 2022, 05:03:48 PM »
Not sure we deserve it, but Irish’s unexpected loss to Bath gives us a slight chance for HC rugby next season. All we have to do is get a win at Tigers! 