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'Lot of work trying to make sure he doesn't make the same mistake'
By Liam Heagney
Lee Blackett has given his assessment on how Jacob Umaga has responded after getting red carded in two consecutive games during the winter for Wasps. The one-cap England prospect was originally suspended for the Gallagher Premiership red card he received on Boxing Day for a dangerous tackle on Ollie Hassell-Collins of London Irish.
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Umaga was given a three-match ban following that sending-off and was set to sit out the European game versus Toulouse in January. However, the successful completion of a World Rugby tackle school intervention shaved the last week off that suspension, freeing the 23-year-old to be chosen at full-back by Wasps for their Heineken Champions Cup tie.
That return didn’t go to plan, however, as Umaga was red-carded six minutes before the interval for clattering into visiting scrum-half Martin Page-Relo, an incident that resulted in an even heftier four-week ban.
The youngster is now back in action for his club, starting for Wasps in seven recent matches, five wearing the No15 shirt and another two as the starting No10, and this Sunday he will provide cover from the bench for the visit to London Irish in the Premiership.
That is a lot of confidence-restoring minutes on the pitch, so how does Wasps boss Blackett rate the form of Umaga and his attitude in putting the consecutive red cards behind him? “Like anyone Jacob just wants to play, so he was frustrated,” explained Blackett when asked by RugbyPass.
“He did a lot of work on his technique trying to make sure he doesn’t make the same mistake. I saw something with Shaun Edwards the other day where he said about the players, it’s that split last-second decision and it is the difference between a red card and a good tackle now. He got a couple wrong, didn’t he, and as a result spent a fair amount of time on the sideline, but I have been happy with him coming back at 15. It gives us another pivot in the backline, a decision-maker, so I have been really pleased where he has come back and how he has come back.”
For a young player with hopefully a long career ahead of him at Wasps, the adversity of those red cards will surely in time become a positive learning experience for Umaga. “It’s the same for any young guy coming through, you are going to have to deal with setbacks, that is what happens.
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“You are going to have to deal with dips in form, you are going to have to deal nowadays – as Jacob found out -with being suspended and being frustrated and coming into training and not having any end product in playing at the weekend. Look, I have been pleased with how Jacob has come through. You can’t forget how young he is still and I’m sure there will be some things he is going to have to learn from in the future but we have been really happy with the form since he returned.”
Umaga was the Wasps star at out-half during their run to the Gallagher Premiership final in 2019/20, but the even younger Charlie Atkinson has been the club’s preferred No10 in many of its recent games, leaving Umaga to start more at No15.
“He played a lot of his junior stuff at full-back, played a lot of his stuff when he went to the Championship at full-back and when he went over to New Zealand, so it is not something that is completely new,” continued Blackett.
“With a lot of modern-day tens as well, they defend a lot in the backfield so you quite often find with a lot of teams the tens and the 15s are in the backfield. That is not new. It’s probably just where he finds himself at the end of the line in attack sometimes and for us having that second playmaker out there has added a difference definitely to our edge attack.”
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