London Wasps - Biarritz (07/04/2012, 12:30)

[TRF_Olyy]

Adams Park (07/04/2012, 12:30)

Live on Sky Sports/Eurosport France​

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Very excited about this. Apparently we're likely to put out a similar team to that which beat Gloucester, which I'm fine with. I'm becoming more and more happy with the development of our team: our backrow against Gloucs consisted of two 10 year olds and a 19 year old, and held its own against an experienced gloucester trio, great achievement in itself

 

[Wilko's left boot]

Delighted to see Wade back for Wasps. Him vs Ngwenya should be fun. This is going to be more than tough with Yachvili etc. starting for Biarritz.

 

[Croket66]

What's sarong with Gresev, he played only 1 game for Wasps...

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

We missed Wade so much. His gas is incredible, and is responsible for most of our breaks.

We need to defend better through and around the gate. A prop picking and going straight through the gate should not be a problem for a well-set defence. I feel we've played well and the first try was against the run of play. But we need to defend the gain-line better because everytime opposition teams are going forward they make metres and we give away penalties. We won't be in this game for much longer if we can't change that. Also, we need more beef.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

In the premiership you can only field a certain number of foreign players, so they have to prioritize. They have very few hookers, so their russian hooker (can't remember his name, sorry!) will get priority over Gresev at 8, despite Gresev being a very good player, as they have English/KOLPAK players they can use there.



Wasps doing all right so far - shame that they conceded the try at the end of the half, but they're not getting a hammering, which is what many feared. I don't think they'll win it, but I'd like to see them get a try or two in the 2nd half if possible, and keep it close.

 

[SelimNiai]

That second try was embarrasing. Literally no defenders at that ruck and they seemed to just watched when the Biarritz prop picked up and rumbled over. A prop shouldnt make so much yardage so easily

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

That second try was embarrasing. Literally no defenders at that ruck and they seemed to just watched when the Biarritz prop picked up and rumbled over. A prop shouldnt make so much yardage so easily

yeah, that was Southwell's tackle. Despite being one of our best players this season a full-back worth his salt should make that tackle. He didn't properly get in the way

 

[big ginger 8]

Wade is going to be some player.

 

[big ginger 8]

Brilliant feet their for the try their.

 

[Wilko's left boot]

23-23 now. Looks like its going to be an exciting finish.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Bloody hell, game on!

Two tries in two minutes

 

[Glasgow_88]

Silly penalty to give away.

 

[big ginger 8]

Biarritz should be so far ahead.

 

[Glasgow_88]

Could be heading to an all French Semi Final.

 

[Wilko's left boot]

Shame. Was probably hoping a bit much for Wade to run the full length of the field and score in the last minute

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Gutted for Wasps, however it does bode well for the rest of the season - can't see them dropping if they can play like that for the next few weeks.

 

[Aedaphon]

Wasps absolutely turned it on for those 5 minutes.

Shame to lose the match but it wasn't unexpected. Bodes well for the young Wasps players.

 

[SelimNiai]

Wasps absolutely turned it on for those 5 minutes.

Shame to lose the match but it wasn't unexpected. Bodes well for the young Wasps players.

Shame about the previous 70-odd

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Shame about the previous 70-odd

I only caught the first half but there was good as well as the bad. Sam Jones is impressive at 8 with the pace to back up reasonable stature and makegood carries. The problem is often the rest of the pack are too sluggish in getting to him - he's been turned over or pinged for not releasing more than anyone in the few gams he's played. I know he's been played at 7 recently with some success but I just can't really get my head around how he could be an effective 7. I really think Palmer will be important for us next season as we currently have lots of athleticism but little grunt in the second row department. Cannon is ocming on well but I think we need rid of birkett who is so unexceptional it hurts.

The scrum has been a real improvement over last seaosn, and we've actually bossed around a surprising number of teams. It's good to see Taulafo in over Payne as Paynes been considered a wasps staple too long. I haven't always been too positive about Zak but he's been good at getting us forward and worth his weight in the loose. Haven't seen enough of Kornushov to make a balanced judgement, althugh his throwing was a wee bit squint on a few occasions.

One thing which really annoyed me was our poorly executed driving maul on 47 minutes. Such a waste of good territory, something we really need to sort out if we're to win marignal games.

Our go forward isn't good enough at the moment, not enough carriers making hard yards. We make it hard for ourselves this way and put too much pressure on our back-row for a sustained time. Thank god we have a decent kicking 10 to get us out of our self-imposed 'stickys'.

Delighted to see Wade back, and his pace in midfield, his yardage and abillities to struggle through tackles and make more yards is so valuable. Without him and Varndell our highest tryscoers have been 9's which shouldn't really be the case.

Anyway, disappointed result but this team is growing and improving constantly. A few experienced big guys such as Palmer and Haskell next season could make such a difference, providing we can keep our younger stars with us as a unit. Next season will see us winning more games provided we make a few strong signings such as a quality 7 to either be ahead of or be back-up to Poff. Our strongest squad at present is probably in the top 6 in the prem, problem is if we lost a handful of key guys to injury we drop rapidly in quality. With another year of experience and a few older quality guys in we'll be winning mroe of these marginal games. For now, we just gotta learn.