A significant period of Wasps’ life has come to a close but an encouragingly bright future could yet await on the evidence of their farewell fling in High Wycombe. Professional rugby operations prefer to look ahead rather than backwards and there will be no shortage of fans queuing up to follow James Haskell’s team in Coventry if they attack like this every week.
Wasps supporters, old and new, can certainly prepare for a major European occasion in the new year when Leinster travel to a potentially well-populated Ricoh Arena for a fixture which may determine who tops Pool Two. Two successive bonus-point victories over Castres, the French champions of two seasons ago, have not just restored control of their own qualifying destiny but stoked a rising belief in their ability to perform consistently regardless of surroundings.
Victory over Quins at The Stoop next month will still be required to set up a winner-takes-all showdown with the Irish province but few sides anywhere are taking their attacking chances with Wasps’ current aplomb. Only the news that Joe Launchbury’s recovery from a neck problem is not progressing smoothly and may yet keep him out of action for club and country during the Six Nations diminished the buzz as the players said their goodbyes to Buckinghamshire after 12 years in residence with a seven-try parting shot, Tom Varndell and Ben Jacobs scoring two apiece.
To call it genuinely emotional might be stretching things but anyone who has swapped a dingy but fondly remembered bedsit for something slightly bigger will appreciate how Wasps’ long-time supporters feel. Their new pad also happens to be 90-odd miles away in a different city; not everyone will be in a position to follow the team up the M40.
Then again, cheering on Wasps has always been more a state of mind than a matter of geography. This is a club which has prided itself on re-homing waifs and strays and making them feel wanted, wherever it happened to be training or playing. Anyone who spent time at Repton Avenue in Sudbury, Wasps’ unglamorous home before they decamped to Loftus Road, will know fond memories are based more around people than bricks and mortar.
Either way, there were few visibly tear-stained faces among the 6,507 members of the loyal Adams family who made the final trip up Lane End Road, past the biscuit factory and the slightly weather-beaten industrial units. Most preferred to reminisce about the good old days; during their dozen years in Wycombe Wasps won eight trophies including two Heineken Cups.
The knockout wins over Gloucester, Northampton and Leinster were among the highlights of their European glory days and the list of good players who served them faithfully makes evocative reading. Lawrence Dallaglio, Alex King, Will Green, Trevor Leota, Fraser Waters … some seriously strong characters have elevated this narrow stretch of turf into a field of rugby dreams which yielded 144 home wins and five draws in 196 games.
It was also the best stadium in the Premiership for those who enjoy tree-lined sporting venues in autumn; it was not unheard of for partridges to wander around in the 22-metre area.
There will be fewer of those at the Ricoh but attractive game birds do not pay the bills. There will be more people watching Sunday’s game against London Irish in Coventry – almost 23,000 tickets have already been shifted – than the aggregate of Wasps’ first four home games this season.
As every chief executive knows, it also helps considerably if your teams are a) winning and b) playing a brand of rugby people will pay to watch. On both fronts Wasps are delivering and this au revoir to the home counties included some wonderful offloading they would dearly love to transport to the Midlands.
In Nathan Hughes they also have the most dynamic No8 in the Premiership at present, while Varndell continues to finish tries with a nonchalant ease totally at odds with his recent haul of Test caps. Bradley Davies and Kearnan Myall were also prominent as Wasps wrapped up a try bonus point before half-time courtesy of scores by Jake Cooper-Woolley, Hughes, Varndell and Jacobs.
Castres did manage three tries of their own, their No8 Jannie Bornman doing his best to counter the physicality of Wasps’ in-form back row, but it was the home side who finished the stronger, Varndell, Guy Thompson and Jacobs rewarding the deft interpassing and support play which have become an increasing feature of Wasps’ play this season. Andy Goode did not have his best day with the boot but the promising Alex Lozowski, son of the former England centre Rob Lozowski, had more joy in the final quarter.
With Launchbury, Christian Wade, Elliot Daly and Alapati Leiua to re-enter the mix, it is small wonder Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, looks as happy as at any time since he joined the club. Launchbury is due to see a specialist this week to investigate why his neck is not healing swiftly but otherwise the mood heading for Coventry is collectively upbeat.
“It’s goodbye to Adams Park but hopefully it’s not goodbye to all our supporters,” said Young, willing the club’s die-hard followers not to give up on them. “We’re doing everything in our power to encourage them to follow us to the Ricoh Arena. I’ve got a full car-load anyway.”
Wasps Miller; Tagicakibau, Jacobs, Masi (Bell, 65), Varndell; Goode (Lozowski, 65), C Davies (Simpson, 55); Mullan (McIntyre, 58), Shervington (Lindsay, 58), Cooper-Woolley (Cittadini, 65), B Davies, Myall (Gaskell, 65), Johnson (Thompson, 56), Haskell (capt), Hughes.
Tries Cooper-Woolley, Hughes, Varndell 2, Jacobs 2, Thompson. Cons Goode, Lozowski 2. Pen Goode.
Castres Dumora; Evans, Combezou, Palis, Grosso; Kirkpatrick (capt), Garcia (Dupont, 64); Taumoepeau (Houerie, 64), Rallier (Mach, 55), Montes (Fa’anunu, h-t), Faasalele (Whetton, 46), Desroche, Diarra (Babillot, 42), Caballero, Bornman.
Tries Rallier, Diarra, Houerie. Con Palis.
Referee J Lacey (Ire). Att 6,507.
