Wasps explain Barbeary op logic, give verdict on Koch's first week
Wasps have explained why they decided to have the hamstring injury sustained by England hopeful Alfie Barbeary operated on rather than allow him to go through a non-surgical rehab that would have seen him back on the field quicker.
The recently turned 22-year-old looked tasty in his opening matches this season versus Gloucester and Bristol, but he limped off 60 minutes into that later appearance last month and coach Lee Blackett reported at the time that the back-rower was looking at between a ten and 16-week layoff, dashing his hopes of involvement with England in the Autumn Nations Series.
It was last week when Barbeary posted a picture on his Instagram showing him on crutches being discharged from the Prince Grace Hospital in London and Wasps boss Blackett explained at his media briefing ahead of this Sunday’s game at home to Northampton why it was decided that the youngster required surgery.
“When I was saying ten to 16 weeks after the game (versus Bath on September 23), there was a decision to be made whether he had the operation or not. The operation was the higher bandwidth. For recurrence and the chances of it we decided it was best that he had the operation.”
Blackett was asked if this was the type of procedure that Barbeary had done before on his hamstring, but he wasn’t fully sure. “I probably should know 100 per cent. I believe he had similar in the academy but I’m not 100 per cent on that. But I believe when he was an 18-year-old in the academy he might have done.
“The percentage difference between reoccurrence was a lot less (by having an operation). It was far higher if we did it the conservative way. Yes, he would have been back quicker but there was a bigger chance of a reoccurrence so this way is a lot less.”
While Barbeary will be absent for Wasps for the foreseeable future, they have been boosted this week by the arrival of Springboks tighthead Vincent Koch. It was last December when the South African agreed to join from Saracens but it was only this week that he started work at Wasps due to his Rugby Championship commitments.
First impressions? “He will be available for Sunday. He came in and did his first scrum session Wednesday and his first full team session out there. He did Tuesday’s session as well but our main session, he did his first one Wednesday. It’s an exciting time having him in the environment. A quality player. Quality person as well."
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Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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