Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Six months ago we would have lost in similar circumstances'

By PA
(Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)

Worcester director of rugby Alan Solomons was not disheartened to see his young side slump to an eighth consecutive defeat on Friday. Wasps recovered from a 14-3 deficit to triumph 32-17 in the Gallagher Premiership match at the Ricoh Arena.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Warriors, who have not won a Premiership game since defeating London Irish in late December, looked set for victory until a strong second-half performance from the hosts turned the game their way.

Wasps’ tries came from Tom Willis, Gabriel Oghre, Tom Cruse and Alfie Barbeary with Rob Miller kicking two penalties and three conversions to secure their fifth consecutive bonus-point win. Worcester responded with tries from Nick David and Beck Cutting. Duncan Weir converted both and added a penalty.

Video Spacer

RugbyPass brings you the latest episode of The Rugby Pod, the show fronted by Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Video Spacer

      RugbyPass brings you the latest episode of The Rugby Pod, the show fronted by Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton

      Solomons said: “We had to rotate the squad as we only had a six-day turnaround and then will have a five-day turnaround ahead of next Wednesday’s game against Harlequins.

      “It was an ideal opportunity to give our youngsters a game as we have to make use of the whole squad. We were impressive in the first half but they got on top of us in the scrum and in the maul and it was impossible to get any field position after half-time.

      “We gave away too many penalties and the youngsters we brought on had difficulty in coping with the power of their replacements, who had a big impact on the game. We are treating the remainder of this season as our pre-season in readiness for the 2020/21 competition as we have a new group of coaches.

      “However we still want to do as well as we can and we’ve got to ensure that we continue on an upward curve, which I believe we did tonight.”

      ADVERTISEMENT

      Wasps head coach Lee Blackett was delighted with the bonus point which saw his side move up to third in the Premiership table. He said: “I’m very relieved that we found a way to win as six months ago we would have lost in similar circumstances.

      “Worcester were pretty impressive in the first 20 minutes and the crucial point came when we turned over their lineout close to our line when they were four points up. In addition, Jacob Umaga and Sione Vailanu and the other replacements made a huge impact when they came off the bench.

      “We made a scrappy start but a number of our players haven’t appeared for five or six months and they looked nervous and rusty. Had our disallowed early try from Ben Vellacott been given then this would have given us confidence but we struggled for a time as they quickly scored two tries.

      “I’m not looking too far ahead, we have to stay focused on the next game and Tuesday’s match against Sale will be tough.”

      ADVERTISEMENT

      ADVERTISEMENT

      Boks Office | Episode 37 | Six Nations Round 4 Review

      Cape Town | Leg 2 | Day 2 | HSBC Challenger Series 2025 | Full Day Replay

      Gloucester-Hartpury vs Bristol Bears | PWR 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

      Boks Office | Episode 36 | Six Nations Round 3 Review

      Why did Scotland's Finn Russell take the crucial kick from the wrong place? | Whistle Watch

      England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

      Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

      Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

      Trending on RugbyPass

      Comments

      0 Comments
      Be the first to comment...

      Join free and tell us what you really think!

      Sign up for free
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Latest Features

      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JW 15 minutes ago
      Super Rugby Pacific has turned the ship around in the right direction

      LOL thats the same mentality the French saying about the Top 14. Why change their ridiculous comp if its performing well with investors?


      There is always better JWH.


      It depends really what you want out of Super Rugby and NPC. Currently Super Rugby fills both niche’s, it has the up and commers as well as the stars performing at the top. Reducing further obviously improves further on what has been the reason everybody is enjoying this season.


      There is definitely a question of balance and what going further that way removes. But theres a few reasons. What coaches are telling us is it is also a struggle to find the talent to fill out a strong SR side. There is talk of increasing financial constraints. Currently there is a lopsided (random) amount of derby home and away match ups in each conference, so going 5v5 instead of 6v6 may mean we have a full derby round for each conference (currently I think they play just 3 teams twice), or even squeeze in a full dbl round comp. Going a larger number of teams means they need to go much larger to fairer league setup.


      But they need to add or remove JWH, one or the other, and I was merely pointing out that adding, like you’re suggestion, is likely going to introduce just what we all (or at least what the person I was replying to was saying) think the comp has been remedied of, having a weak team. The 5v5 I referenced was 3 Aus teams, with the other two filling the landscape their, and 5 here. That’s what NZR wanted to kick off for the COVID year but ARU threw a hissy fit. If going to 10 is the right thing to do maybe it’s an NZ team that needs to be dropped, so Moana would remain here and Drua continue to be with the aussies, thats the other possible 5 v 5 setup (which would just be 10 if they found a way for all to play even games).

      10 Go to comments
      LONG READ
      LONG READ Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations? Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?
      Search