Bobby Bridge tells it like it is!

[Rossm]

Why pressure remains firmly on Wasps even without Gallagher Premiership relegation fear

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/rugby/wasps-saracens-relegation-bobby-bridge-17614282

Hard to disagree with him.

[Neils]

So Daly is so good he had to name him twice.
Can't disagree with his assessment.

[Tervueren]

He slipped past him unhindered first time?

[wasps]

It's why I'm unconvinced about ring fencing.

If you're safe from relegation, then every game remains "must win" to try to qualify for Europe.

It's rare that a team is so far adrift that they're not in contention for Europe.... And even rarer that there's multiple teams with nothing important to play for.

[mike909]

I think Bobby has been quite kind - but his points all stand in terms of the team and where we are now compared to quite recent "glory days" of play-offs and finals and it being worth watching just for the few times Chris W got his hands on the ball - like it used to be with Tom V (and. as well of course)

The pressure is on for both commercial and rugby reasons. Commercially - we need matters to sort such that a long term plan can be brought forwards with confidence - and that the offer can look more like the "Wasps of old"

Now...I know that may, in the short term, be wishful thinking - the thinking that got me to support Wasps first up in the mid 80's when were were supplying all those England players and playing exciting but tough rugby for the club. But we do seem to have gone a long way and not uphill from only three years ago. Worth looking at our Prem Final team...reinforces Bobby's point about players going.

[Shugs]

I must admit I find it hard to agree. As far as I can see a well thought out and deliberate strategy is being played out. Three broad phases. 1) Move from Wycombe where the club couldn't survive. 2) Attract a new fan base by going big. 3) Develop a more sustainable existence by growing our own. Yes, we had great players in the Final team but I'd genuinely rather see a Willis for every Beale and a Umaga for every Le Roux. We've now been handed a gilt edged chance to develop that strategy by the cheats. I think we're heading in a great direction and that's why I don't think there is a great deal of pressure on roles towards the top. Yes, of course we need to improve. But I think everyone who is making decisions at the top of the tree is bought into the journey and fully realises there will be bumps in the road.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I must admit I find it hard to agree. As far as I can see a well thought out and deliberate strategy is being played out. Three broad phases. 1) Move from Wycombe where the club couldn't survive. 2) Attract a new fan base by going big. 3) Develop a more sustainable existence by growing our own. Yes, we had great players in the Final team but I'd genuinely rather see a Willis for every Beale and a Umaga for every Le Roux. We've now been handed a gilt edged chance to develop that strategy by the cheats. I think we're heading in a great direction and that's why I don't think there is a great deal of pressure on roles towards the top. Yes, of course we need to improve. But I think everyone who is making decisions at the top of the tree is bought into the journey and fully realises there will be bumps in the road.

Exactly.

[wasps]

I agree with you to a certain extent shugs.

However, I'm sure it's impossible for the bosses not to be a little disappointed with our current position compared to where we were a few seasons ago - even if there are mitigating factors that everyone bought into.


The other thing is that we know there's a really good chance that Dai 2 or 3 more seasons with us.
Any rebuilding really needs to be completed by the end of the season for him to have a good chance of reaping any benefits

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I think Shugs hits the nail on the head, and I think its worth saying that while a small coaching team led by Dai has shown it can take a group of galacticos to extra time in the premiership final, and if Sarries hadn't have cheated we'd likely have had some silverware. That same coaching team has struggled to do the same with young, raw potential.

I dont think anyone senior at the club thinks for a second that we don't need more coaches. And if in getting them we can reconnect to the old Wasps DNA then all the better.

This is a marathon, not a sprint.

[mike909]

We all realise there have been some mitigating factors - but whilst (obviously) we had to move, and as part of that we needed to attract an audience - are we really saying we went for some exciting players "for the move" and now we're building from the "bottom" up?

I find that quite hard to buy into - that we had that exciting team  in 2017 - the first team to get near a title for 10 years (ish) but mainly to get a new audience...who would then still come if we lost many of the players that made us attractive in the first place?

I don't see it as "either/or" its probably more the losses of Wasps since the Final like Daly, and Wade and Cips*  and Simpson that makes us look a little "amateur" they were all Wasps first of all and all lost to us, alongside others in the forwards like Hask* and Thompson - the glue players for us and Hughes - well it was money -  but with Mullan and Symonds and Swainston and Moore too, none of those were "a Beale or Le Roux" but formed the framework of a team and squad that allowed the odd star to flourish. We didn't have that many "stars"  - in the final only one arguably - Willie Le R - )perhaps Hughes) but the basis of the team was the familiar. And we've lost 13 (at least) of that 23 in the final , just three years ago.

And seeing that level of turnover - its less of a surprise that form's been uneven - but its on the "low side" of uneven and has been for a while.

*and I fully realise some players didn't exactly help matters...