Blaze: Young Guns Can Get Wasps Firing

Neale Harvey talks to Wasps new forwards coach Richard Blaze about his return to the club scene

- Neale Harvey

Wasps-bound forwards coach Richard Blaze says there is enough talent at his disposal to ensure the club punch their weight in a fierce battle for Midlands supremacy.

With Wasps and Blaze’s former club Leicester assembling new coaching teams and Northampton flying high under Chris Boyd, three ambitious clubs are preparing to go at it with a third of the season remaining and local rivalries set to reach incendiary levels.

Blaze, set to join Wasps after three years coaching men’s and women’s teams at the RFU, told The Rugby Paper: “There’s a great core of players at Wasps who suit the way (head coach) Lee Blackett wants to play – fast tempo, but also capable of meeting the challenge of Plan B by making sure we can be physical and tough through the winter.

“There are good, established forwards but the growth of the academy has also been good and you’ve seen that with the Willis brothers, Jack and Tom, coming through. There are also excellent young hookers in Gabriel Oghre and Alfie Barbeary I’m excited about.

“Throughout the pack, there’s a lot of talent – then outside that Jacob Umaga stepped up last season as a young flyhalf in a very hard league. Having seen a lot of those guys through working with England U20s and the pathway, Wasps are in a very good place.”

Blaze, below, is determined to see more Wasps players make the grade with England.