Wasps release their 'Legend XV'
Wasps have used this period without rugby during the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to compile a Legend XV as voted by fans. The team has been slowly taking shape over the past weeks before being fully revealed on social media. For one of England’s most successful clubs in the professional era, there are unsurprisingly some legends of the game in the XV.
Eleven of this team played in either of the triumphant Heineken Cup finals in 2004 and 2007, with five - Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Lawrence Dallaglio, Josh Lewsey and Fraser Waters - starting both (with Mark van Gisbergen starting on the bench in the 2007 final).
Only two members of the team are still playing for Wasps, Joe Launchbury and Jimmy Gopperth, while only two more are still playing rugby, Joe Simpson and Danny Cipriani, who have both moved to Gloucester over the past two years.
The Premiership’s fourth-highest all-time try scorer Christian Wade is another member of the team to still be active, but he has moved to American football as part of the Buffalo Bills squad.
Only two members of the team have not represented England, former Samoa hooker Trevor Leota and Jimmy Gopperth, who represented the Junior All Blacks.
Three players started in the 2003 World Cup final for England, Phil Vickery, Dallaglio and Lewsey, with Shaw and Worsley also being part of the squad. It’s understandable that a number of players from England’s strong outfit in the 2000s are in this team, as their era of dominance roughly mirrored Wasps’.
While there are those that made a name for themselves for England, and also the British and Irish Lions, none more so that longstanding captain Dallaglio, there are some that never got the international recognition they deserved.
Outside centre Waters is one player that only managed three caps for England but was adored by Wasps supporters and was instrumental in their revolutionary blitz defence under Shaun Edwards that defined the club as they won three consecutive Premiership titles.
As far as teams go, few clubs in England could rival a team like this given that silverware Wasps have won.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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