I think it’s easy to be overly pessimistic or optimistic after a win/loss. My wife and I were both saying that so far, this season is probably the hardest as fans in about 17-18 years - Even the near relegation season didn’t feel as hard to watch. We just seem so un-Wasps like.
In my opinion, last night really shows how fine the margins are this season. We’ve been very close to a couple of wins and small errors have cost us precious points. I’m not sure we were markedly better last night than we have been all season. Defence was better and those last passes, or breaks just seemed to come off. I do also wonder whether some consistency in selection helped with fluidity somewhat.
Thought both Fekitoa and MLB, despite a couple of silly errors, had much better games together and started to look a bit more at home. We dominated the breakdown and thus possession, we really are lucky to have both Willis and YY in the same team.
Pearce had a couple of howlers that impacted us pretty badly, but thought he had good intent - Made it clear early on that he wouldn’t take any crap at the breakdown, or the scrum and encouraged both teams to get on and play which I liked a lot.
Bristol didn’t seem to have quite the same spark about them, whether they were deflated after last weeks result against Sarries, or had enjoyed Christmas a bit too much they certainly didn’t look as lively.
Lastly, the score flattered Bristol somewhat - If Jacob had of gotten his earlier, easier kicks we’d have been home and dry (albeit we might not have gone for the TBP at the end). Fair play to him stepping up at the end to nail what was probably his toughest kick of the evening. Takes guts.