Wasps Will Fly That Extra Yard This Season Warns Jimmy

- Neale Harvey

The experienced Kiwi also expects more of his teammates to be in line for England selection after influential performers like Danny Cipriani, right, Dan Robson, Joe Simpson, Christian Wade and Matt Symons found themselves overlooked last season.

Gopperth looked back on last season’s defeat by Exeter in the Premiership final and told The Rugby Paper: “We were pretty proud of our efforts. The Premiership final could have gone either way but good learning came out of that and we’re looking for an extra five per cent this time.

“It’s about every individual improving that tiny bit more, whether it’s skills, execution, fitness – any slight little edge people can give themselves.

“You look at other teams and they’ll be doing exactly the same, but we believe we’ve been pushing the barriers in pre-season and improving as much as we can. Our recruitment has been good and all the new boys have bought into our systems.”

Gopperth added: “It was frustrating last season to see a lot of our guys performing at the top of their game but still not getting an opportunity with England, but different coaches see different things and they need to keep putting their hands up.