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'Although you do have to rest your internationals, when you hear that European music you want to play'

(Photo by David Rogers/RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Lee Blackett has warned his Wasps players to expect a ferocious backlash from a Montpellier side heavily beaten by Leinster when they meet at the Ricoh Arena on Friday night in the Heineken Champions Cup. 

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Montpellier, who included England’s Alex Lozowski and French internationals Paul Willemse and Guilhem Guirado, were thumped 35-14 on their own ground by Leinster last Saturday while Wasps opened their campaign with a bonus point 24-8 win over the Dragons.

That match in Newport saw returning England internationals Dan Robson, Jack Willis and Joe Launchbury – plus Wales’ Will Rowlands – make significant contributions and finding time to give the internationals a break in the coming weeks is one of the major challenges facing Blackett.

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“We have spoken about the Montpellier DNA. They are very big, physical, confrontational and will come at you,” said Blackett, who knows he will need Wasps his big hitters on Champions Cup duty on Friday night.

“They are one of the biggest teams in the Top 14 and have internationals throughout the team. It is about us not allowing them to impose their game on us. 

“In their last away game, they beat Clermont and were outstanding. That was Montpellier at their best and you cannot take them lightly because they came up against an outstanding Leinster team. They put Montpellier under a lot of pressure and there are things we will take from that game. The first round showed how well French teams can travel.

“This year’s format means you cannot allow a game to go by and one defeat and you feel you are out of the competition. You may need bonus points and wins in every game to get out of the group. We have to go for this and although you do have to rest your internationals, when you hear that European music you want to play. The opportunities we are creating is pleasing but it’s about taking them and we are coming up with mistakes. 

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“There were loads of little things but there are signs we are moving towards where we want to be. A lot of teams are finding it tough when you have internationals coming back in the middle of the week and training has been disjointed which means you have to be adaptable. We cannot use that as an excuse. We will rest players at different times and we will keep tight about when – it will be at different points.”

Tom Willis, Ben Harris and James Gaskell are expected to be available and an initial scan on Alfie Barbeary’s calf injury suffered against Dragons suggests he too could also face Montpellier.

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AM 6 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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