'A bad day in the office' - Blackett unhappy as Wasps flop at home
Lee Blackett called for his side to cut out the mistakes after Wasps fell to a 23-8 defeat at home against Bristol in the Gallagher Premiership.
Callum Sheedy scored 18 points for the visitors, with Magnus Bradbury adding a further five as the Bears secured their second win from their opening two games.
In contrast, Wasps are still without a victory despite veteran hooker Tom Cruse giving his side the perfect start at Coventry Building Society Arena.
And Blackett blasted a mistake-ridden performance from his side, who currently sit 11th in the table with just one bonus point to their name.
He said: “The number of opportunities out there, you look and you reflect and you’re thinking, it wasn’t like we looked clueless at times, we were creating opportunities.
“We just made far too many mistakes with the ball, that’s why I’m constantly saying we’ve got to improve our skill set and that’s what we want from Wasps players.
“I think if you’d seen us in pre-season, I saw us heading in the right direction in terms of that. I think it’s a bad day in the office but we have got to be constantly working on that and that is the direction we are going in – we’re working really hard on our skills and we’ve got to work even harder.
“It’s a little bit of the story of the week before. You’ve got guys so passionate about playing for this club and everything like that. I just think we made quite a few mistakes around the contact area, whether it was stripped, whether it was on the floor, so it’s not just out-and-out handling errors.”
Bristol are currently second and director of rugby Pat Lam felt the win showed the progress made by the team in recent years.
He said: “It was the first one for us as a group since I arrived but the first win here in the league for the club for 22 years. It was a massive marker for us and certainly a monkey off our back. To go back-to-back having beaten them last year at home as well is good.
“It certainly wasn’t the prettiest game, but at the end of the day five points were on offer and we took four today and we deprived them of points too, so I am really pleased.
“Our defence and the character of the boys was outstanding, they just worked their way through the adversity.
“They [the two wins] haven’t been the free-flowing game we would like, they only made 80 tackles and we made 220 tackles and that is some serious character to do that because you can see they have got some serious threats.”
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It certainly needs to be cherished. Despite Nick (and you) highlighting their usefulness for teams like Australia (and obviously those in France they find form with) I (mention it general in those articles) say that I fear the game is just not setup in Aus and NZ to appreciate nor maximise their strengths. The French game should continue to be the destination of the biggest and most gifted athletes but it might improve elsewhere too.
I just have an idea it needs a whole team focus to make work. I also have an idea what the opposite applies with players in general. I feel like French backs and halves can be very small and quick, were as here everyone is made to fit in a model physique. Louis was some 10 and 20 kg smaller that his opposition and we just do not have that time of player in our game anymore. I'm dying out for a fast wing to appear on the All Blacks radar.
But I, and my thoughts on body size in particular, could be part of the same indoctrination that goes on with player physiques by the establishment in my parts (country).
Go to commentsHis best years were 2018 and he wasn't good enough to win the World Cup in 2023! (Although he was voted as the best player in the world in 2023)
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