OPINION: Crazy week at Wasps in build up to the cracker
Wasps reporter Bobby Bridge takes a look at the week building up to Wasps' clash with Harlequins at the Ricoh Arena
Chris Bell, Dai Young and Dan Baugh
It has been a strange old week at Wasps, but then again, do they ever have a routine, uneventful, run of the mill seven-day period?
In the build up to a huge match so early into this Gallagher Premiership season as Harlequins visit the Ricoh Arena, those inside the club must've craved a 'no news is good news' kind of period. But here's how the week panned out...
The day was built around the Premiership Shield match away at Worcester Warriors as Wasps A sent a team containing the likes of Billy Searle, Rob Miller, Ben Morris and Jack Owlett but came undone spectacularly at Sixways. Gaby Oghre's late withdrawal was a blow and the more experienced hosts showed no mercy, running home 11 tries to win 75-21. A far from ideal start to the penultimate week of 2019.
Director of rugby Dai Young has been known to take a rest when it comes to the midweek media sessions (well, I say midweek, they're normally held on Mondays). Few directors of rugby have 100 per cent attendance records for this area of their job, although Dai is one of the better ones for facing the music. But to not see him face the questions on Tuesday, ahead of such a big game, was a bit of a surprise and lead to some supporters jumping to the wrong conclusion. He was there, at Broadstreet RFC, Wasps' training ground base, just not where dictaphones were recording.
Maybe, in the build up to such a big game, he wanted to take the attention away from himself and possibly cracking up the pressure. Attack and backs coach Lee Blackett is a great talker, a very decent bloke and a strong rugby operator. But was he the voice, the face, Wasps fans wanted in the lead-up to the Harlequins game? It sparked internet message boards into overdrive, speculating about Dai's future. But at least in terms of external communications, there was nothing negative reported.
That was until later that evening, when head of strength and conditioning Dan Baugh's move to Welsh side Dragons at the end of the season was revealed by BBC Sport and Wales Online, long before the clubs themselves released their statements, long after I'd packed my pens and pad away and left the Wasps training ground base.
Dan Baugh of Wasps
'Time for a new challenge' were the words shared in the press release. Words Wasps fans have heard plenty of times this calendar year. Elliot Daly, Nathan Hughes and Jake Cooper-Woolley said words to that affect when heading off to pastures new. There's no denying this must have been a body blow for Dai, to be losing somebody he was worked alongside for so long at Cardiff and Wasps.
On Wednesday, we had the news that centre Michael Le Bourgeois had signed a contract extension to keep him at Wasps into a third season. It was a decent bit of business. The Jerseyman has been the most successful and most utilised player of those five recruited from the Championship in the summer of 2018. And given Wasps' issues in the centres it made absolute sense to lock one down and build a relationship with Malakai Fekitoa into this season and building into the next.
Wasps centre Michael Le Bourgeois (Image: David Howlett)
It wasn't the kind of re-signing that prompted joyous celebration amongst the Wasps faithful, but retaining a player who runs through brick walls for the cause and you feel still has his best rugby ahead of him at this level, was a bonus.
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Equally, the announcement of an internal appointment to replace England Rugby bound Jon Pendlebury as head of academy, Kevin Harman wasn't one to raise pulses, but it at least tied up that loose end and was well received on social media.
Into the early hours of Thursday morning. Alex Rieder, whose retirement was officially confirmed the previous week, was the subject of a story in The Times. Perhaps due to it being behind a paywall of subscription, it didn't explode over the internet like some stories with this hard-hitting content does in no time at all.
In the article, Rieder revealed he 'pulled the wool over the club's eyes and told them I was better than I was' and had developed a reliance on painkillers during his rehabilitation period. It wasn't a dig out on Wasps. There was a line in the penultimate paragraph that reveals his contract was paid up and the club continues to look after him. A fantastic gesture, but not one that lept out in the early reading. In the main, it was a harrowing read about a human's struggles in the sporting world.
Wasps back row Alex Rieder (Image: David Howlett)
Later that day, without much fanfare, Wasps announced that former club captain Chris Bell was leaving to join Luton Town. Five years ago, he played his last game in the first match at the Ricoh Arena after suffering a career-ending injury against London Irish. He didn't drift away, Wasps kept him involved and he became head of off-field development. A familiar, friendly face about the place. Pendlebury, Baugh now Bell - supporters get uneasy when bad news comes in threes. At least it came in the hope that no further negative headlines were looming.
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That evening, Wasps deputy chairman Nick Eastwood appeared on BBC Midlands Today speaking about the ongoing dispute with Sisu and Coventry City, which has seen the Sky Blues opt to play its home games at Birmingham City this term.
'We continue to hope that they will be back here' he said. "A football club belongs in its local city. It belongs in its local community. That clearly is here.
It wasn't exactly a revelation. It was the same stance Eastwood and Wasps have stayed true to all along. Just with a few more soundbites added to the mix.
And breath, we're into Friday. Team announcement day. Time to focus on the rugby. When it came, so did the news that Joe Launchbury was back, excellent. Jack Willis and Sione Vailanu, as expected, overcame their issues to be available for selection and named in the starting 15. But so did the news that Lima Sopoaga was absent due to a 'illness', Jeff Toomaga-Allen missed out altogether and, as we already knew, Brad Shields was missing with a foot injury - placing all eyes on Malakai Fekitoa, who holds the hopes placed on the big name signings from New Zealand in recent seasons.
Joe Launchbury and, inset, Lima Sopoaga of Wasps
The selection is bold. Jacob Umaga and Michael Le Bourgeois at 10 and 12 is a vote of confidence in both with Jimmy Gopperth among the substitutes. Josh Bassett, Dai Young's go-to man last term, appears to have not done enough in his two appearances against Edinburgh to force his way back into the side. It's the fourth of six Gallagher Premiership squads selected where the scorer of 45 tries in 112 club appearances has been left out.
All the noise and confusion in the week boils down to a simple objective on Saturday afternoon. With only one league win in the bag so far and matches against the top two Bristol Bears and Northampton Saints on the horizon, the wait for a second win cannot keep moving along to the next round. We're not even a quarter of the way through the league season, talk of relegation is premature with so much rugby to be played. But the 'R' word will hover overhead as Saracens claw chunks of their 35-point deduction back week after week and the table takes on a truer reflection of form.
Win against Harlequins, Wasps enter Christmas and the New Year with optimism, regardless of what happens at Ashton Gate on Friday, December 27. Pick up the points before big Ricoh Arena crowed and the muddled week of news is rendered immaterial, confined to the past. Suffering a defeat wouldn't constitute a fatal blow, it's too early for that kind of talk. But it would inflict another deep cut with the time needed to heal and grow strong getting shorter by the week. It's time to deliver.
Joe Launchbury