1
Former All Black Malakai Fekitoa primed to make his Wasps debut
By Online Editors
New Zealand World Cup-winner Malakai Fekitoa is set to make his Wasps debut on Saturday when they take on Worcester Warriors in round four of the Premiership Rugby Cup at Ricoh Arena.
Fekitoa, who played his last Test match for the All Blacks in the 2017 series draw with the Lions before his switch to Top 14 outfit Toulon, will link up with Juan de Jongh in the Wasps midfield, while skipper Dan Robson returns to the starting line-up at scrum-half alongside Billy Searle at stand-off, who makes his first start since February.
Both Wasps and Worcester are still in the hunt for a semi-final place in the competition but either side require a win in their Derby Day fixture and will have to hope other results go their way if they are to make the knockout stages.
Josh Bassett and Marcus Watson are restored to the side, starting on the wings, with Rob Miller at full-back. In the pack, Georgia international Zurabi Zhvania lines up next to Tom Cruse and Kieran Brookes in the front-row, with Tim Cardall partnering Charlie Matthews in the second-row.
England’s Brad Shields starts in the back-row alongside Jack Willis and Tonga international Sione Vailanu. Fekitoa’s fellow All Black Lima Sopoaga is also set for his first appearance of the season after recovering from injury to be named among the replacements.
(Continue reading below…)
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young said: “One of the priorities of this competition was to give everybody an opportunity and we’ve achieved that. Everybody that’s been available has played and it’s allowed us to look at different combinations.
“The first performance was poor against Saracens but the last two have been a lot better. Both games were close and could’ve gone either way and we’ve been very competitive in both.
“Some boys have put their hands up and hopefully now we can finish off with a win this weekend and that’ll take us where it takes us.”
WATCH: The latest episode in the RugbyPass Exceptional Stories series – Jackson: Climbing Mountains – features former Wasps player Ed Jackson’s incredible fightback to health following a swimming pool accident
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Wallaroos captain reflects on Black Ferns’ success with sevens stars
3
Springboks flyhalf's latest injury worry
4
Initial Immanuel Feyi-Waboso injury update does not sound promising
5
Latest Comments
Yes I was surprised at how close the pen count was - the spread between best and worst being just 2. The number of yellow cards though will surely be something the Boks will look to address
Go to commentsBriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol! Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistol!
It's incredible to see the boys playing like this. Back to the form that saw them finish on top of the regular season and beat Toulon to win the challenge cup. Ibitoye and Ravouvou doing a cracking Piutau/Radradra impression.
It's abundantly clear that Borthwick and Wigglesworth need to transform the England attack and incorporate some of the Bears way. Unfortunately until the Bears are competing in Europe, the old criticisms will still be used.. we failed to fire any punches against La Rochelle and Leinster which goes to show there is still work to do but both those sides are packed full of elite players so it's not the fairest comparison to expect Bristol to compete with them. I feel Bristol are on the way up though and the best is yet to come. Tom Jordan next year is going to be obscene.
Test rugby is obviously a different beast and does Borthwick have enough time with the players to develop the level of skill the Bears plays have? Even if he wanted to? We should definitely be able to see some progress, Scotland have certainly managed it. England aren't going to start throwing the ball around like that but England's attack looks prehistoric by comparison, I hope they take some inspiration from the clarity and freedom of expression shown by the Bears (and Scotland - who keep beating us, by the way!). Bristol have the best attack in the premiership, it'd be mad for England to ignore it because it doesn't fit with the Borthwick and Wigglesworth idea of how test rugby should be played. You gotta use what is available to you. Sadly I think England will try reluctantly to incorporate some of these ideas and end up even more confused and lacking identity than ever. At the moment England have two teams, they have 14 players and Marcus Smith. Marcus sticks out as a sore thumb in a team coached to play in a manner ideologically opposed to the way he plays rugby, does the Bears factor confuse matters further? I just have no confidence in Borthers and Wiggles.
Crazy to see the Prem with more ball in play than SR!
Go to comments