Falcons vs Wasps - or the return of the messiah

[Peej]

Does this ref listen to the assistants? Fuck's sake

[padprop]

Don’t think we’d have won that without Barbeary. Gopperth at 10 and Launchbury back also huge. Still alot to work on mind.

[Peej]

West tremendous when he came on as well. I think Barbeary just has to play. Not perfect by any stretch, but a win is a win

[I R Geech]

Oh yeah, Wasps are utterly terrible currently. Just no midfield punch, no real way of getting on the front foot and getting a defence back peddling

Free Paulo!

[Peej]

Think he goes straight back in, Fekitoa has been pretty average of late

[Beasties]

How tf does Barbeary do it? He gets tackled by three players, swats them off and goes again. Just about every time. And he's got a sore ankle. Jesus.

Ncl are efficient. No individual players just well drilled. Wasps are the opposite, but have been missing the special players lately. They are starting to return now, Willis aside. Top 4 possible again? I'll take that.

[Puja]

How tf does Barbeary do it? He gets tackled by three players, swats them off and goes again. Just about every time. And he's got a sore ankle. Jesus.

He is utterly bizarre, isn't he? On several occasions, he carried the ball into heavy traffic, got absolutely smashed and stopped dead on the gainline, and I thought, "He's clearly not feeling his best, they've absolutely smashed him there... and now he's running forwards again." I can understand a player busting through tackles in a BillyV style - going forward through tackles and knocking people backwards; what I can't fathom is how he runs full tilt, gets tackled and knocked back himself, and then doesn't fall over. I can't compute how it happens. My working theory is that his father was a Weeble-Wobble that achieved its wish to be a real boy.

And the scary thing is that he definitely looked off the pace and ring-rusty. He wasn't picking the holes that he was pre-injury or running with as much freedom - that cameo was him running at half-power.

I'm still not convinced he's going to end up at hooker. I think the coaches will look at his impact in the loose and deciding to stick, rather than gamble that he won't lose some of it by having to take up front row tasks as well.

Puja

[fivepointer]

The TMO basically clocked off for the Carreras incident. Given how keen some are to intervene it was just extraordinary that play wasnt halted to check it out properly. He'll get a long ban, deservedly so.
The game itself wasnt a thriller. Newcastle well on top in 1st half, looking purposeful and well organised, only to fade very badly in the 2nd.
Wasps came back and did just enough but they are a long way from their best. Barbeary is quite something. I dont think he's even 80% fit but the way he can get through contact is a bit miraculous at times.

[Banquo]

Oh yeah, Wasps are utterly terrible currently. Just no midfield punch, no real way of getting on the front foot and getting a defence back peddling

Free Paulo!

How many games has he played at 13 out of interest?

[Banquo]

How tf does Barbeary do it? He gets tackled by three players, swats them off and goes again. Just about every time. And he's got a sore ankle. Jesus.

He is utterly bizarre, isn't he? On several occasions, he carried the ball into heavy traffic, got absolutely smashed and stopped dead on the gainline, and I thought, "He's clearly not feeling his best, they've absolutely smashed him there... and now he's running forwards again." I can understand a player busting through tackles in a BillyV style - going forward through tackles and knocking people backwards; what I can't fathom is how he runs full tilt, gets tackled and knocked back himself, and then doesn't fall over. I can't compute how it happens. My working theory is that his father was a Weeble-Wobble that achieved its wish to be a real boy.

And the scary thing is that he definitely looked off the pace and ring-rusty. He wasn't picking the holes that he was pre-injury or running with as much freedom - that cameo was him running at half-power.

I'm still not convinced he's going to end up at hooker. I think the coaches will look at his impact in the loose and deciding to stick, rather than gamble that he won't lose some of it by having to take up front row tasks as well.

Puja

It was decent considering how much, um, excess weight he's carrying. I'd think he'd need to shift a deal of that to be a back row contender at the top level- great talent though.

[Peej]

How tf does Barbeary do it? He gets tackled by three players, swats them off and goes again. Just about every time. And he's got a sore ankle. Jesus.

Ncl are efficient. No individual players just well drilled. Wasps are the opposite, but have been missing the special players lately. They are starting to return now, Willis aside. Top 4 possible again? I'll take that.

Definitely not. Wasps still struggled to do much against a team down to 13 men, and have to play Sale and Exeter next. Top 6 will be a minor miracle.

[Raggs]

Who was tmo?

[Puja]

Who was tmo?

Graham Hughes, who's normally pretty decent.

Puja

[Raggs]

Who was tmo?

Graham Hughes, who's normally pretty decent.

Puja

The same Graham Hughes who said the Thorley tackle against wasps rob Miller was nothing?

[Beasties]

How tf does Barbeary do it? He gets tackled by three players, swats them off and goes again. Just about every time. And he's got a sore ankle. Jesus.

He is utterly bizarre, isn't he? On several occasions, he carried the ball into heavy traffic, got absolutely smashed and stopped dead on the gainline, and I thought, "He's clearly not feeling his best, they've absolutely smashed him there... and now he's running forwards again." I can understand a player busting through tackles in a BillyV style - going forward through tackles and knocking people backwards; what I can't fathom is how he runs full tilt, gets tackled and knocked back himself, and then doesn't fall over. I can't compute how it happens. My working theory is that his father was a Weeble-Wobble that achieved its wish to be a real boy.

And the scary thing is that he definitely looked off the pace and ring-rusty. He wasn't picking the holes that he was pre-injury or running with as much freedom - that cameo was him running at half-power.

I'm still not convinced he's going to end up at hooker. I think the coaches will look at his impact in the loose and deciding to stick, rather than gamble that he won't lose some of it by having to take up front row tasks as well.

Puja

It was decent considering how much, um, excess weight he's carrying. I'd think he'd need to shift a deal of that to be a back row contender at the top level- great talent though.

Given how he's clearly been rehoming a lot of pies whilst injured, would it be totally unlikely Eddie watches him play and wonders if he's actually the closest thing to Billy V currently? As Puja says, his ability to be seemingly tackled but then go again will tie in defenders creating holes for others. I mean he has more outright ability than Billy but I bet Eddie's thinking hmmmmm right now. Whether he should be our plan B there or not isn't really our choice, it's Eddie's.

[Digby]

More outright ability than Billy? Is that just in a physical sense, because straight off the bat it seems to ignore Billy has a very impressive range of passes. And I don't even know there's anything to hang a hat on that says Barbeary is the physical equivalent of Billy. Which isn't a problem when he's still only 6 years old

[Raggs]

More outright ability than Billy? Is that just in a physical sense, because straight off the bat it seems to ignore Billy has a very impressive range of passes. And I don't even know there's anything to hang a hat on that says Barbeary is the physical equivalent of Billy. Which isn't a problem when he's still only 6 years old

He is a pretty skillful player. Passing, chip kicks, offloads. He's got that Mike Brown like ability to somehow slip through players grasps.

[Digby]

More outright ability than Billy? Is that just in a physical sense, because straight off the bat it seems to ignore Billy has a very impressive range of passes. And I don't even know there's anything to hang a hat on that says Barbeary is the physical equivalent of Billy. Which isn't a problem when he's still only 6 years old

He is a pretty skillful player. Passing, chip kicks, offloads. He's got that Mike Brown like ability to somehow slip through players grasps.

He looks very good. But I've seen Billy produce class against the best sides in the world rather than say Newcastle. And the claim was better than Billy, which is a hugely high bar when Billy is one of the best passers in the current senior England side and Alfie turns 7 next July or some such

[Beasties]

I wouldn't claim to have seen a huge lot of him, merely most of the minutes he's turned out for Wasps. He's likely been playing at centre a lot for instance at schools age among other positions. What I've seen of him so far suggests he has a wide range of skills, inc lots of accurate offloading and good choice of when to offload. I'm not dissing Billy, he liked an offload when he first started at Wasps. Ignoring Barbeary's unworldly ability to get through gang tackles (which isn't nothing) he just makes the game look easy. Which is quite something at the age of 6. He's already quite a player, is it that much of a stretch to think he might get better?

[Digby]

Something is wrong if he doesn't get better, just stuck on the idea he's showing more outright ability even on a like for like (early career) basis. Though he probably doesn't drop high balls like Billy used to, that was always a big part of Billy's game (similar training as went into Launch no doubt) and a very odd part when he had/has such good hands

[Peej]

Carreras up before the board tomorrow night. Let's see how the citing roulette works this time

[fivepointer]

BREAKING: Mateo Carreras has been handed a 9 week ban for intentional contact to the eye area on Josh Bassett.

He received the full 50% mitigation reducing his ban from 18 weeks.

So pleading guilty and saying sorry gets your sentence reduced by half. I'm not sure you should get that kind of reduction given the offence.

[Puja]

BREAKING: Mateo Carreras has been handed a 9 week ban for intentional contact to the eye area on Josh Bassett.

He received the full 50% mitigation reducing his ban from 18 weeks.

So pleading guilty and saying sorry gets your sentence reduced by half. I'm not sure you should get that kind of reduction given the offence.

Surely you can't say sorry to an action that was clearly deliberate, after the whistle, and not in the heat of any moment?! As my mother used to say, "You're not sorry you did it; you're sorry that you got caught."

Frankly, I'd even say the 18 weeks was too lenient considering it was deliberate, vindictive, and an action that had the potential to cause permanent damage to Bassett. To my mind, that's 6 months at bare minimum, with 2 years not being out of the question.

Found some of the text:

The player had admitted the offence which the panel accepted took some courage given the stigma attached to offences of this nature. He has a clean disciplinary record over a number of years as a professional player, expressed remorse for his actions and engaged with the process positively despite requiring the assistance of a translator. In line with the regulatory framework, the panel applied 50% mitigation

My arse it required courage - he was caught (nearly literally) red handed, from two different camera angles. Admitting it didn't require courage, it required simple common sense and the knowledge that you muppets would halve his punishment if he said he did the thing that everyone can see that he did.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

100% agree. 9wks is far too lenient.

I wonder how his team mates feel about it?

[Digby]

In fairness that's 3 weeks longer than Brookes got for gently pushing a ref who stood in his way