Talisman

By Dobbin
December 10 2010

 Are there barometers of rugby success, small pieces of a game that act as a pointer to the relative fortunes of a team? Something the regular viewer will pick up and recognise as a good sign, something associated with success?

Can we identify elements in Wasps' recent run of wins that were absent during the earlier win-loss spiral, and point to them not as a reasons for the turnaround, but as indicators that, had we read them, would have prefigured the upturn in fortunes? Or is any attempt to do so just a bit too post hoc?

I don't mean the recent renaissance in our defensive efforts. I'm talking about symbols, markers that are not sweepingly significant in the outcomes of games themselves but seem to embody, to encapsulate, the current fortunes of the team. Something in the DNA.

For Leicester fans it might be the sight of a dominant scrum or a powerful maul. For Bath fans it might be the vision of their openside flanker standing yards off-side and never quite getting pinged for it. For our friends at the Stoop, it might be the number of people promenading up and down in front of the stands, or the number of blue chip box holders. Whatever the sign might be, however, the club seems somehow incomplete without it, somehow more vulnerable to defeat.

Maybe the signs aren't even that obvious. Maybe you have to be slightly superstitious even to make the connection – those of us who wear lucky shirts or hats or whatever are probably prone to reading omens in the most innocuous of events. But at bottom, we know. We know what the signs mean.

For this particular supporter, the sight of Joe Worsley running the ball hard into contact in midfield is one of the images that defines the glory years under Warren Gatland. It wasn't the major reason we won things, but it was a common feature of the game-plan back then. Make holes in the middle of the pitch, draw in defenders, press home the advantage out wide. It's not rocket science by any stretch, but it seemed somehow integral to the winning mentality. And without it we had become a lesser team, or so it seemed to these eyes.

In recent weeks, though, it appears to have returned. The most glorious examples were in the game against London Irish, Worsley taking the ball on the pop from Dave Walder and careering, Bambi-legged and eager as a puppy, straight down-field. But Joe's prominence as a ball carrier has been evident in other recent games as well. Is it merely coincidence that this has happened as we've started winning consistently again? I think not.

Your rationalist might point out that Joe has been trying to do this all along, and it's only now that the team is functioning more as a cohesive unit that he's been given the space and the opportunity to do it effectively. That might well be the case, but that doesn't stop it from being a barometer. The fact that this symbol has made a reappearance is enough. Let's just hope that it continues to figure prominently.

The next two weeks offer Wasps an opportunity to discover whether better form in the Premiership can be translated into the European arena, the arena on Sunday being, of course, the spanking new but slightly soulless Cardiff City Stadium rather than the old-world charm of Rodney Parade. The traditional home of the Black and Ambers is apparently frozen solid, which is a shame for those Wasps supporters who haven't sampled the delights of this stadium before. Moving the match away from a bear-pit that makes Kingsholm look like a bastion of binocular objectivity will tip the balance in Wasps' direction, inevitably, but the Dragons will be a significant challenge nonetheless. Coached by the canny and much-travelled Paul Turner, they currently lie eighth in the Magners League, having had, like Wasps, a mixed start to the season. However, victory over Munster last Friday, as well as wins against Gloucester, the Ospreys, and fellow Pool 6 team Glasgow Warriors earlier in the season, show that the boys from just over the border have it in them to topple more star-studded opponents when they put their minds to it. I won't pretend to know much about most of the Dragons' squad, but a few names stand out. Experienced international Robert Sidoli is a regular feature in the second row, on the flank is the exciting young Wales international Dan Lydiate, and all Wasps fans will recognise old boy Hugo Ellis should he take the field against his erstwhile colleagues on Sunday.

For Wasps, continuity must be the watchword, both in terms of selection and approach. While there are injury worries (when aren't there?), the bulk of the squad picks itself. The last few weeks have seen some positive signs, over and above the victories. James Cannon is coming to the fore, particularly in the line-out and and the loose (audible gasps all round when we won a ball on Exeter's throw last weekend). Serge Betsen had his most effective game for some time last Sunday, and the scrum seems to have become a lot more stable since the Northampton debacle. Ben Jacobs continues to pull any number of strings in the centre (ably assisted by Steve Kefu), Simpson and Walder are becoming a more effective half-back unit by the week, and with David Lemi getting back on the try-scoring track last week, we have two wingers for whom finishing is a breeze. Crucially, they're also finding space to work in, at last.

The next two weeks will go a long way to determining our fortunes in Europe this season. Two wins are a necessary, and not impossible, return. That we can talk about winning two games in a row is something to savour, since we didn't manage it until late November. Currently on a run of four wins, we have that most crucial and ephemeral of rugby commodities, momentum. To maintain it in the next fortnight we need to continue doing the things we do well. Tackling the opposition to a standstill. Capitalising on turnovers. Using the pace in the backline. And, of course, giving the ball to Worzle and watching him charging into the opposition's heart.

Allez Wasps!