I actually think that overall our backs are not very good individually or as a unit. This does not mean they are bad, but week on week I see opposition team sheets that have 3 players in the backs that terrify me, even if teams are shorn of players. We don't have that.
We have solid operators like Bassett, but, let us be honest, if you compare him to Wade, Varndell, Lewsey, Voyce, etc. Well you get the point, he is an honest worker, a bit like Kenny Logan, but not the sort of guy who scores from nothing, not the sort of guy who creates space just by being on the pitch.
In our team at the moment there are very few X factor backs, and some of those we have- like Jacob, come with enormous brain fades and questions as to where they should play. For a the plaudits from Friday's second half, the first had Jacob exposed at the back. Odogwu has the x factor, but I don't think we know if he should be a wing or a centre. That said, if you give those guys great ball, they will convert some of that into tries, and there will be wins, just not enough as we are often quite prodigal. Had the pitch been 3m shorter we would have been golden, as it was we had the breaks to make 40 m but could not bridge the gap in the most important inches, top two inches in the brain. How many tines was it a case of 'it has got to go' or 'why were you forcing it?'.
If we sort the problem of the breakdown, we can win matches, but it will be because we create loads of chances with our turnovers, some of which will be spurned, of course.
Looking at our strengths, it is in the mobility and handling of the forwards, but even then there are players just settling in. I am not certain Oghre is the hooker for us- could he be a 7? Without Shields other back rows we put out have sometimes been imbalanced- glue players are hard to come by.
It is hard to gel a backs unit with players making their way unless you are giving them an armchair ride and our pack is not that type of pack. Many are young and how many times have we seen Atkinson/Mills/Spink? Or indeed any settled combination that does not gave Jimmy at 12?
Fundamentally we are going through churn, a couple of wins and we could sneak 4th but a couple of bad weeks and we are 10th, that is the nature of the league.
Just like Wales when they play England, Wasps never know when they are beaten, but sadly we often have a creaking Welsh lineout, which is something we need to fix. We do score from lineouts, but the number of times it does an impression of a wet fart is too high.