Always a Wasp

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Jonah Holmes was lured away from Wales to go there this season in a deal big enough to rule himself out of further Wales caps (although he was a way down the pecking order)

Don't expect new Wasps to have an easy time and the thought of Tom West going to Trailfinders for "less abrasive" seasons is laughable.

I am not downplaying the quality in the championship at all but my opinion that the levels of physicality Tom West would face there would be far less compared to what his body would be put through in training, in the Prem and in Europe, I really don’t think is a ‘laughable’ suggestion.
Maybe we might just need to find some middle ground here. I have no doubt some time in the championship would be beneficial to West physically in the same way players taking sabbaticals in Japan for example have said it has improved their longevity in the game.

Does anyone have any knowledge on how the Championship generally works in terms of wages etc.
I know Ealing are the only fully professional club and your Jonah Holmes’ etc earn pretty well but how much does your average squad player at a Doncaster or a Jersey earn?

If semi professional are they just paid match fees, do some work other jobs, is it only training a few days a week?

I think we need to get our expectations in line of how much money this rebranded wasps have before we start thinking whether an available Tom West, Tim Cardall, Zack Kibirige etc would be anywhere remotely affordable

It’s a shame it’s not Robertson, it would have been good to see a fresh pair of eyes come in without an agenda or preference to any players, would have been good to see us play ever so slightly like the Crusaders too.

Wouldn’t have though Borthwick would have felt his job at Leicester was done but guess you can’t turn the opportunity down.
Can’t see many risks being taken under his tenure. Lots of set piece, box kicks from Ben Youngs being chased by backs who don’t really play to a game plan to suit their abilities.

We will see

IT's also worth listening to the Rugbypass offload podcast from last week with Joe Simpson, 1st time I've heard a player be very negative about Eddie Jones.

Wow, just listened to Simmo / cannot believe that story about Eddie and the steak and sausages as well as him maybe implying coaches (potentially) going to HR to get out of deals after treatment from Eddie

Quote from: Heathen on November 28, 2022, 11:47:52 AM

Quote from: DGP Wasp on November 28, 2022, 10:52:52 AM

Quote from: Tervueren on November 28, 2022, 09:38:20 AM

https://twitter.com/SaintsRugby/status/1596855095903518720?t=IFiAGjICFB80-CZ59fan1A&s=08

A few in the barbarians team on Saturday, great to see them. Zach got an Allez...Allez...Allez for this try.

Quite a few Wasps supporters at the match, great welcome from Saints supporters.

He had a Wasps sock on one foot and looked like a red and black sock on the other, so something in the offing for him perhaps?  Toulon?? (Not that one rolled down sock is much of a basis for a rumour!)

Was Danny wearing the Wasps socks that Pudsey sent him last week?

Yes - mostly all yellow by the looks

Apparently we’re now signing him as our marquee player in the championship for next year according to Ruck.co.Uk and Geech is involved somewhere.

Good to see we have all that in place already!!!

This was an under strength SA as well. Jones’ legacy to the team seems to be a non earned arrogance and little else.

This is it for me.

Eddie starts this, thinking we can put muscle SA, the front row selection was an error, thinking we needed another lineout jumper (which is fine) but that shouldn’t have been Coles, playing Freeman as defensive option against kicks but then hauling him off, midfield selection again means that when we can’t outmuscle then we then can’t turn on the attacking style either.

It was the whooping and hollering that still gets me. It starts in the Premiership with the arrogance of Sarries and has snuck to England.

Curry celebrating a penalty like he’d won the World Cup when there was 9 mins left and we were 21 points down was embarrassing.
An absolute misplaced arrogance.

Thought the likes of Faf and Etzebeth could really have rubbed our faces in it but were actually quite restrained.

Eddie talking about needing extra lineout jumpers for this, so as already said in the press, Itoje goes back to 6 and I’d probably expect a 6-2 split on the bench to fit Simmonds and another lock in there.

Hope it’s not just a war of attrition and a kick fest, SA have been trying to attack a lot more with WLR or Limbok so hope they continue.
I think we could get very found out this weekend if SA click, and hope we don’t play well for 10 minutes leading to everyone at the RFU acting like we won and all is ok regarding those other 70 mins