RugbyRebels

Wasps: Watson; Kibirige, Fekitoa, Le Bourgeois, Bassett; Sopoaga, Robson (capt); Zhvania, Taylor, Brookes, Gaskell, Matthews, Shields, Willis, Vailanu.

Replacements: Cruse, Harris, Toomaga-Allen, Flament, Carr, Wolstenholme, Umaga, de Jongh.

London Irish: Parton; Loader, Rona, Hepetema, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Steele; Hobbs-Awoyemi, Fainga'a, Hoskins, van der Merwe (capt), Botha, Rogerson, Cowan, Tuisue.

Replacements: McMillan, Elrington, Chawatama, Nott, Gilsenan, Meehan, Myler, Williams.

Any decent english youngsters playing for irish?

Great game so far.

twitchy wrote:Any decent english youngsters playing for irish?

Ben Loader. Scored a good amount of tries in the Championship and got a call up for the Barbarians game.

George Nott has also come on at lock. He never really made a breakthrough at Sale but looked like he had great potential for England U20s.

Speaking of young, English talent, Jack Willis is in imperious form. 3 or 4 turnovers already along with some big hits and decent carries.

Cheers, great run from collins.

6 turnovers for willis.

Nice thing about Willis is he's far from a one trick pony. Some big defensive hits and good carries too.

Imagine how much worse Wasps would be without him?

Really entertaining game. I'm actually really looking forward to the prem this season.

twitchy wrote:Really entertaining game. I'm actually really looking forward to the prem this season.

Having failed to put away Irish at home, as a Wasps fan I'm somewhat dreading it

How the hell was Willis on the losing side? 6 turnovers and a ridiculous number of tackles and positive carries. He is a freak.

Puja

Willis IMO is the most promising back rower in english rugby.

He’s certainly up there. As I think someone mentioned on another thread, he seems to combine a lot of the best qualities of Curry and Underhill in one and is probably a better carrier than both.

I was pleasantly surprised by Irish. They were good value for the win IMO.

Willis was exceptional. The rest of the Wasps side weren't, though Kibrige did score 2 really good tries. Think this might be another testing season for the club.
Irish showed up pretty well. They defended stoutly and cheated like mad at the breakdown. Their 2 young wingers showed plenty of promise.

I agree. Wasps could be in for a tough season.

Obviously not great for Wasps, but I’m hoping Launchbury will be away with England for another couple of weeks.

What’s the ETA on Young, Rowlands and McIntyre? Those three would help.

I think Minozzi could do well too, but I don’t think the back three is a major concern.

Irish have some solid looking players in that pack. Wasps have the same old problems wrt the maul, can't maul and can't defend a maul. No other prem team seem to make as hard work of it. Agree with others, take Willis out and Wasps aren't going to stay in games long.