Depleted Wasps need to iron out errors - Blackett - The Stratford Observer

Depleted Wasps need to iron out errors - Blackett

Stratford Editorial 7th Dec, 2020 Updated: 7th Dec, 2020   0

AN OFF day for Wasps proved costly after slipping to a second successive defeat against Newcastle Falcons, going down to a 27-17 defeat in the Gallagher Premiership.

The Ricoh Arena hosts trailed 17-5 at the break, and, despite improving in the second period, were not at their best against the high-flying Falcons – who scooped a third win from three.

And for head coach Lee Blackett, it was a frustrating afternoon that he is keen to address in the coming weeks – starting with Saturday’s trip to Rodney Parade in Newport for a clash with Dragons, a game that will prove Wasps’ first involvement in the Heineken Champions Cup this season.

“We’re gutted, plenty of aspects of our game were off,” said the 38-year-old.




“Our basics let us down, our execution was also nowhere near up to standard, we gave them a try with an interception.

“We had a lot of things happen in the week, there’s been a lot of enforced chopping and changing – we just haven’t had any sense of continuity.


“There’s a lot of little things we need to work on.

“But we’re not going to panic, we’ll have our internationals for the European game with Dragons next week, then they’ll have a couple of weeks off.”

Blackett’s side were missing a quartet of international players in addition to the injured number eight Tom Willis – who pulled out of the squad prior to kick-off – while knocks to Levi Douglas and James Gaskell hindered the hosts further just a minute into the game.

Toby Flood kicked Newcastle into the lead with the opening penalty of the game, who then added the extras to

Adam Radwan’s try to bolster the visitors’ early advantage.

While Paolo Odogwu replied with a try of his own – finishing a move which included an interchange with teammate Zach Kibirige – Newcastle finished the half strongly when Marco Fuser touched over the line from close range for a converted score.

The away side were not done there, starting the second half as they meant to go on through Ben Stevenson – who intercepted Lima Sopoaga’s attempted pass before racing over the whitewash after a fine 60-yard run.

Flood again converted to put Falcons 24-5 up, adding a penalty on 52 minutes to finish off the visitors’ scoring.

While the game was out of reach, Wasps did finish strongly with Tom West notching an unconverted score, followed by a Douglas effort converted by Umaga in the dying embers of the game.

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