RUGBY UNION - Blackett: Wasps need to right wrongs against confident Tigers - The Coventry Observer

RUGBY UNION - Blackett: Wasps need to right wrongs against confident Tigers

Coventry Editorial 7th Jan, 2022   0

WASPS Head Coach Lee Blackett admitted his side need to right the wrongs of last week ahead of a daunting match against local rivals Leicester Tigers.

 

The Coventry-based club were beaten 26-18 at Sale Sharks in their last outing as they dropped to 10th in the Gallagher Premiership table.

 




Leicester have won all 15 of their competitive matches this season and victory against Wasps would equal a club-record run of victories and match a Premiership record of 12 successive wins.

 


And Blackett insists his side must improve if they to end the Tigers impressive run of wins and hopes Wasps can be the first club to beat Leicester this season.

 

Blackett said: “The motivation is about fixing up quite a few wrongs from last week, parts of game were moving well, we’d gone three weeks on the bounce scoring 30 points, we were poor last week.

 

“Our main focus is on trying to get as many match points as we possibly can, it’s a dangerous game if you just concentrate on Leicester.

 

“Our motivation comes from the fact we’re at home against a team just around the corner from us.

 

“Everyone is probably saying the same, it would make it a little bit nicer [if we were the first team to beat them].”

 

However, despite the local rivalry between the two clubs, Blackett was full of praise for Leicester’s remarkable start to the season.

 

He added: “Leicester started to turn a corner last season and they’ve clicked into gear, teams like that, when they go on those runs, they find a way of winning right at the death of games.

 

“I’ve been at this club when that’s happened, even when you’re losing with a couple of minutes to go you’re still confident.

 

“That’s where they are, they’re a really confident team, confident in what they’re doing, they’ll challenge us in different ways with the way they kick.

 

“They put a lot of emphasis around their kicking game and about building territory and the set-piece, they’re the two key areas.”

 

The defeat at Sale marked Wasps seventh loss in their last eight fixtures and Blackett feels his side now need to improve defensively having impressed in attack in recent weeks.

 

He added: “We were disappointed, we were second best throughout, we started well but after that we lost far too many collisions and we became quite individual and started forcing things.

 

“We made far too many errors with the ball and we conceded a couple of soft tries, it’s something we’re addressing.

 

“At the start of the season we were going really well defensively, our attack was off a little bit and we were winning games through our defence.

 

“It seems to have gone the other way, we’ve spent a little bit more time on our attack after the Premiership Cup games and scored 30 points in three games back-to-back which is three try bonus points.

 

“We weren’t good enough on both sides of the ball at the weekend, Sale’s defence really got on top of us.”

 

Wasps clash with Leicester takes place on Sunday, January 9 with kick-off at 3pm at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Support community journalism by making a contribution.

The Coventry Observer's team of journalists provide a trusted source news, sport, entertainment and events going on in your area and issues which matter to you - both via our free weekly print edition and daily updates on our website.

Every contribution, however big or small, you can make will help us continue to do that now and in the future.

Thanks for reading this and the Coventry Observer.

Are you on Facebook?

Like or follow our Facebook page - facebook.com/CovObserver to get daily news updates straight to your news feed.

Advertising

Advertise with the Coventry Observer to reach your audience

Buy Photos

Buy photos online from the Coventry Observer newspaper.

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Coventry Observer.

Reader Travel

Check out all of the latest reader travel offers to get your hands on some free gifts.