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Blackett: 'Losing Dai on Tuesday was a surprise to all of us'

Wasps head coach Lee Blackett. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Wasps interim head coach Lee Blackett believes Leicester won “the little moments” that turned the game their way as the Tigers edged a dour Midlands derby 18-9 at Welford Road.

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In his first game at the helm since long-serving director of rugby Dai Young stepped back from first-team duties on Tuesday, Blackett saw his side take a 9-3 lead through three Jimmy Gopperth penalties.

However, Greg Bateman’s 55th-minute try and a penalty and conversion from Noel Reid put the Tigers 13-9 in front – Tom Hardwick having slotted over a first-half penalty for the hosts – before two crucial moments turned the game Leicester’s way.

First, Wasps wing Zach Kibirige looked a certain scorer before having the ball knocked from his grasp by Ben White, and then immediately afterwards Tigers full-back Telusa Veainu capitalised on a Wasps handling error to run 90 metres for the match-winning try.

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Blackett said: “Zach scores that try 99 times out of a hundred and then when we throw a poor pass, they go the length to score.

“Games in these conditions are won and lost by small margins and they won the little moments today.

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“The first 20 minutes was good for us as we played the game in the right areas. We pinned them deep in their territory but we over-kicked at times.

“In the second half, their pack got a foothold in the match and after that they drove us to death and we didn’t have enough to match them.”

Blackett also insisted the shock departure of Young in midweek after nine years in charge did not influence Wasps’ performance.

He added: “Losing Dai on Tuesday was a surprise to all of us but it didn’t affect our performance today and we won’t be using his departure as an excuse.

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“It didn’t affect our preparation and I thought we were in a good place and so it proved for the first 30 minutes of the game.”

Leicester’s head coach Geordan Murphy accepted White’s tackle was a crucial factor in Tigers winning the game.

He said: “It was a huge moment and it just shows what can happen if you don’t give up as the winger should score that every time but Ben’s effort was remarkable.

“In the first half, we gave Wasps too many opportunities and we didn’t start the second half very well, conceding another score and then going down to 14.

“We showed great effort to immediately get back into their territory and from then on, we were more accurate and got our rolling maul going to good effect.”

PA

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

Even the 20/30 cappers did too I reckon.


IDK, I think Jordan has a limited life span in this side unless he can develop more to his game. Like you go on to mention, I think theyres more important things to worry about than the effectiveness of someone's extra strings, or secondary components to their game.


Bash backs are Fosters thing, and to a large part they've made it work. Theyre now one of the best teams in the world.


They boy's trucked it up a bit against Italy in the redzone, and against France, wasn't that effective without the right players probably.


Try and take a look at it this way. Dissapointed Havili and Blackadder were in the side? Havili despite clearly shown that he can't do what the team needs at 12 was kept on for the RWC. Back goes down and he brings in Blackadder who doesn't play. Refuses to drop Christie when he should and look who starts this season. Beauden Barret not playing well enough to keep his 10 jersey but we gotta keep him in the side. Weve only got one 8, we stuff developing another I'll just play Ardie every game.


This years team wasn't burdened overly with injuries but they were in every position Razor might have wanted to try and development, severely limiting options. I'm not defending Razor as there was also plenty of other opportunity to make up for it and he was a little gunshy, but I'm also not going to overly criticise him because he chose cohesion over a black slate.

How long are we going to keep blaming All Black failings on Ian Foster.

I think more and more people are on board with it being time to try alternatives, but then again, how would they have reacted to a loss against Italy? 😉

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