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Two Wasps coaches cited after tempestuous incidents versus Exeter

By PA
(Credit: BT Sport/Premier Rugby)

Two members of Wasps’ coaching staff have been charged by the Rugby Football Union following last Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership clash against Exeter. Backs transition coach Scott Barrow and head of performance Pete Atkinson were both ordered from the field of play by referee Wayne Barnes.

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Barrow and Atkinson, who came to Wasps following a spell working in Italy, have now been charged with “conduct prejudicial to the interests of the union and the game” said the RFU and they will appear before an independent disciplinary panel on Tuesday night.

The RFU said that Barrow had been charged for interfering with play by back-heeling the ball away from the pitch and blocking an Exeter player from retrieving the ball in the second half of the Premiership match at Wasps’ Coventry Building Society Arena.

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Henry Slade went after a ball that had been thrown away by a Wasps player when Barrow, who was standing behind the posts, found himself in the England centre’s way. A tussle ensued which then ignited a larger scuffle against the sponsor boards involving around 20 players.

After getting a rundown of the incident from the TMO, referee Barnes was heard saying: “That water carrier over there does not come back on the pitch.”

Atkinson, meanwhile, must answer for comments made towards Barnes following an Exeter first-half try in a match that the Chiefs won by 27-23. The disciplinary panel will be chaired by Mike Hamlin, with Gareth Graham and Mitch Read.

The Barrow incident is the second high profile situation regarding water carriers in recent weeks. During a recent Rugby Championship match between the Springboks and the All Blacks, referee Matthew Carley was forced to tell South Africa’s water carrier to desist from harassing the linesman. Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber apologised in the aftermath, admitting that the waterboy was acting on the direction of his coaches’ box.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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