Match Preview - Time to Draw the Young Guns
By Ed Scott
November 25 2010
It isn't often that you get to play Wasps twice in three weeks, but Bath again have the pleasure of their company at The Rec this Saturday as we meet for the first time in the Premiership this season.
When I wrote the last preview for the Wasps v Bath fixture in the LV Cup, I was in fairly buoyant mood. We had played well in defeat at Leicester, scrapped against Quins, and then put in a good display against Cardiff in terrible conditions. Sadly, like the start of the season, this seems to have been a red herring.
I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the highlights of last Sundays game, so depressed was I when reading the responses and reactions on ERE. It seems as if the team that lost to Gloucester decided to again turn up against a young and inexperienced Saracens line up. We can blame the result on a lack of available first choice players, but they had almost exactly the same number missing and were playing away from home. The fact of the matter is, we have not won in the premiership since 25th September and now languish at 8th in the table. If we lose on Saturday and Harlequins beat Leeds at home on Sunday, we will be in 9th. Did someone say deja vu?!
Wasps aren't exactly firing on all cylinders this season, and are also suffering with the loss of several key players. However, they visit us off the back of a fantastic victory against London Irish last weekend as well as their LV Cup win against us the week before. Like Toby Flood, Dave Walder has successfully emerged from Jonny Wilkinson's shadow to become a highly accomplished player, controlling the game from 10 with precision and confidence. Come Saturday they will be full of vigour and, as always, aggressive in defence and attack. Regardless of who plays, they have huge strength in depth in their backrow and will be highly competitive at the breakdown, an area I know we came a solid second in last weekend.
So what should we expect from this week? What we can actually change in six days? All our England guys are still out, Watson, Williams, Catt and James are injured, and I'm pretty sure we used up all our miracles in the second half of last season! Jack Cuthbert should return on the wing, but really, options are low on the ground. As many have pointed out on the board, it is becoming more and more obvious that we don't have the squad depth we need to cope with the International window or multiple injuries.
Last week I predicted our back row would include the ponderous Beattie and Skirving, it did. Will Smee have the guts to admit they they were outplayed (apparently) by the youngsters from Sarries and play Ovens and Mercer? Probably not. It's a shame because they need to be the future of this club. If we don't allow them to develop then not only will they not improve, but they will also leave. We gain nothing by picking these 'battle hardened' players and then bringing on the young guys to try and chase the game when it's already slipped from our grasp. We could talk about experience until we're blue in the face, but right now, it seems to be counting for very little.
It doesn't sound like it, but I'm trying to be optimistic! I still think we have a set of backs full of pace and capable of cutting any team to shreds. Hopefully the likes of Mears and Taylor will ignite our forwards into the off-loading game that we are so famous for. Right now, with the player options we have, a win against a resurgent Wasps is a tall order, but I do believe we have it in us to turn this around. We must be dynamic, aggressive and accurate. If we can cut out the silly handling errors and play on the gainline, then maybe we can stop the avalanche and grapple our way back up the face of the table. Let's just hope Smee & Co can find crampons to fit.