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Wasps move step closer to pro rugby return

COVENTRY, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 09: Wasps fans wave their flags during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Wasps and Northampton Saints at The Coventry Building Society Arena on October 09, 2022 in Coventry, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Wasps’ hopes of hosting professional rugby back in the south east of England have taken a positive turn with the news that land has been secured to build a new stadium in Kent.

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Club owner Christopher Holland said the club had secured a 10-year option on land as part of a wider development scheme in Swanley, Kent.

“It is rewarding that we have managed to achieve this milestone with the support of key stakeholders,” he said.

“It brings our aspiration of a new home in the region closer and hopefully demonstrates our determination to recover Wasps sustainably.”

Wasps led a nomadic existence in the professional era after leaving their spiritual at Repton Avenue in Sudbury to play at QPR’s Loftus Road ground.

They stayed there for six years before moving to Adams Park in Wycombe, winning seven trophies in a glorious six-season spell from 2002 to 2008.

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Controversially, they upped sticks again and relocated to Coventry, despite the city already having a well-established club to call its own, and one which hopes to entertain top-flight rugby at some point in the near future.

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The Ricoh Arena move in 2014 was fraught with difficulties, not least the inability to sufficiently widen its fan base, and played a considerable role in the club going to the wall in October 2022 with debts of £95 million.

While Kent is an untapped rugby market, that does not automatically equate to drawing in new fans. London Welsh’s move out of London to play Premiership rugby in Oxford, for example, was hardly a success with average gates struggling to get much above 5,000 in their first season up.

Crucial to Wasps’ success is securing a place in a revamped Championship, for the 2025/26 season. Wasps have put forward an expression of interest and hope to be one of the 12 clubs involved in a new dawn for Tier 2 rugby in England.

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EllenMoody 3 hours ago
Great moments in Lions tour history – JPR’s drop goal and the All Blacks' brutal revenge

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JWH 5 hours ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Do you hear yourself? Do you have any concept of world view? Have you tried looking into why people call Ireland ‘arrogant’? Obviously not.


We started calling you arrogant when you called our captain a ‘shit Richie McCaw’. In New Zealand. On our turf. Don’t think that kind of behaviour really calls for respect, does it.


NZ don’t really talk ourselves up, if anything the rugby does it for us. No kiwi goes in the media and says: ‘We are gonna win the RWC’. However, I have found many instance of IRISH media saying that the Irish should win, without a doubt. THAT is disrespectful.


The All Blacks have played good rugby, even some of the best rugby ever, at many points in history, but I don’t think you could find a single instance of one of those players, or the NZ media, saying that they should whitewash their opponents. Ever.


Now, onto your analysis. Ireland DID choke the QF. They beat the champions, they were ranked first coming into it, a lot of players at the peaks of their powers. Its hard to say that they didn’t choke. Obviously, their preparation was just not as good as NZ, and thats all there really is to it.


If Ireland had repsected that ABs team and that QF more, maybe they would’ve prepared properly for it and won. But they didn’t.


Maybe if Ireland had won their QF last RWC, they wouldn’t have to be in the same pool as SA and Scotland. I mean, its called a draw for a reason. NZ got third last RWC, so of course they should get a reasonable pool, and they were ranked pretty highly too. If you want to talk about easy pools, look no further than Pool 3 with England, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia I think?


Now, obviously you don’t remember how that QF ended, so I’ll go ahead and rectify that. Ireland reclaimed the ball off kickoff and marched for 20ish phases into the opposition half. Savea then won a turnover, but the referee refused to give it, so play went on. Finally, at the NZ 22, after not giving up a single penatly in 25 phases of hard defense, Sam Whitelock, the most capped All Black of all time, wins the game with an incredible steal.


Now, NZ players having a go at Ireland. Do you cry when you get hit after making the first swing? We all know Sexton is a prick on the field, its just the truth. And Ioane never backs down from a clash, so he thought he should humble a player who has never won an international knockout game who thought he was all that. Don’t really see the issue, its poetic justice really.

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