This wonderful story starts at Welford Road. This year. A rare win for Leicester Tigers, another loss for Wasps. Take Saracens out of the equation and Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership finalists were relegation fodder.
Dai Young, a magnificent servant to Wasps, had that week in February been asked reluctantly to leave a club he had inspired through hard times as director of rugby. The 2017 final against Exeter Chiefs felt a long time ago as Lee Blackett, then the temporary head coach, and Stephen Vaughan, the chief executive, told each other after that defeat that Wasps would click.
And so they did; three consecutive wins before lockdown. It seemed the season hiatus could not have come at a worse time for a Wasps team on a roll. Would they rediscover their rhythm when the season resumed? An impressive win against Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens gave an emphatic answer to the question.
Even an outbreak of Covid-19 cannot stop them making the trip to Twickenham. There may be significant absentees but this is a club who have thrived against the odds since their return to action. The away wins at Bath and a stunning success for their all-but second XV at Saracens suggest that the favourites and newly crowned European champions Exeter will not have everything their own way.
Blackett has done a magnificent job. But it has been the way in which they have played and, in particular, the blistering form of Jack Willis, the 23-year-old open-side flanker, which has garnered headline after headline, week after week. Wasps, a club that Vaughan affectionately describes as “ruffians . . . a great club, the history is incredible, they are the opposite of ‘establishment’.” A club that he says is “not about location, it’s about being part of a family.” The happiness of the squad has been one of the intangibles about which we keep hearing and reading.
Yet Young was in many ways the family head and Wasps dismissed him. This is where the story becomes interesting. The call was bold. But one that the board felt necessary. The businessmen could have prevaricated but instead they acted decisively.
Usually the board room, the suits, are easy targets for sports writers. The money men, hard hearted. “Rugby is becoming like football.” It is a line readily available every time a director of rugby is dismissed. Wasps were not so much hard as heavy hearted. Had they not acted as they did, they would not be attempting to stop Exeter’s dreams of the double.
Willis, Jimmy Gopperth, Jacob Umaga and Will Rowlands have all had stellar seasons yet they would not be where they are if not for Vaughan and the board. The season is arguably as great a success off as on the field. Vaughan joined a week before this season commenced. Seven years the chief executive at Gloucester, he was excited by the challenge of a club almost the diametrical opposite of Gloucester — his former club have communal roots as deep as any in the land.
An opening-day home defeat by London Irish and a loss at his old Kingsholm stamping ground was the worst of possible starts. Things didn’t greatly improve. By the time Young left Wasps were developing an idea of what sort of replacement was needed. More than 50, fewer than 100 people applied for the vacant post. “We were open to giving youth a chance, we didn’t need a dictatorial, autocratic type. The appointment wasn’t CV driven,” Vaughan admits.
It was becoming clear that a director of rugby might not be necessary. Vaughan would handle the contractual negotiations and much of the messy detail that goes into running a professional rugby club. A head coach with integrity and commitment to the cause rather than World Cup-winning experience was becoming the obvious fit. “Lee’s name came back, loud and clear.”
And so the former journeyman wing was appointed head coach. It is very much his team in terms of playing affairs. “Lee is our leader, he has done a wonderful job but the coaching structure is not about titles but people.”
These people were recruited during lockdown. Richard Blaze, the former Tigers coach, joined from the RFU. Chris Marshall — a sports psychologist — was lured from the FA and Pete Atkinson from the Italian Rugby Union. All possessed high performance credentials; all have made a mark on the club in the shortest possible time.
A nutritionist, Chris Lowe, has been added to the roster along with Neil Fowkes, a scrum coach from Nottingham. In his tenure as director of rugby Young might have to split time between the board and the forwards.
This unseen revolution transformed performance. Apart from Blackett, Martin Gleeson (promoted from skills to assistant attack coach) and Ian Costello (defence), Wasps’ coaching team was assembled during the lockdown interlude. Blackett has a calibre of coaching beneath him that allows him to focus on being the head coach. Leicester, where this column kicked off, had so many managerial people thinking that they were making decisions with nobody accountable.
In contrast everybody knows their role at Wasps. The structure is supported by individual expertise which has created, to quote Vaughan one last time, “a happy group of people”. And a group of players it would be unwise to dismiss for all the disruptions of the last week. They have travelled far since that loss in Leicester.
Topic: A very complimentary Times article by Stuart Barnes (Read 1818 times)
Always a Wasp