Andrea Masi

Has signed for Wasps.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/18782931

Now that is an odd one. Wasn't initially added to the Zebre squad then was added to the Zebre squad and now at Wasps.

Great signing though.

Yeah quality signing. One of the only Italian backs who is quality.

So what is the Wasps starting lineup going to look like next season? They have some really good signings for next season in Johnson, Haskell and Masi.

Don't forget they have Steve Jones at fly half now too.

Palmer will.be a good signing for them....
Aswell as Some of the young guns from this season rory like lindsay, launcbury, daly, wade etc....be much stronger this year...

So...

Payne
Lindsay
Broster
Palmer
Wenzel
Haskell
Poff
Johnson
Simpson
Jones
Wade
?
Daly
Varndell
Masi

Doesn't look too shabby on paper at all

I think launchbury wentzel and palmer will play equal gamesrotating...keeping.them fresh.

Bathite, Broster is gone to France. They have signed three tightheads but I can't remember who they are.

1.Payne
2.T R Thomas
3. ?
4.Palmer
5.Wentzel
6.Haskell
7.Poff
8.Haskell
9.Simpson
10.Jones
11.Wade
12.R Davies/L Thomas/C Bell?
13.Daly
14.Varndell
15.Masi

Bench: Talufo? , Lindsay, ?, Launchbury, Sam Jones, Berry, Robinson, Southwell.

Hmm, I know Wauldock has had his injury problems, but swapping a talented young English guy for a 31 year old NEQ player is a bit disappointing. From a playing point of view, I'm sure he'll be a great acquisition, but it seems likely he'll play fullback. This also pushes another promising young English player (Jack Wallace) further down the pecking order.

If Bath had made this signing, I bet it would have been the old 'wasted money on another over the hill foreigner, when they could have used an academy player'

formerly known as Sam wrote:Bathite, Broster is gone to France. They have signed three tightheads but I can't remember who they are.

1.Payne
2.T R Thomas
3. ?
4.Palmer
5.Wentzel
6.Haskell
7.Poff
8.Haskell
9.Simpson
10.Jones
11.Wade
12.R Davies/L Thomas/C Bell?
13.Daly
14.Varndell
15.Masi

Bench: Talufo? , Lindsay, ?, Launchbury, Sam Jones, Berry, Robinson, Southwell.

3 Fabio Staibano and I know Haskell is full of himself but he isn't gonna get flanker & no. 8 starting. It will be Ashley Johnson at 8 & the Hask 6.

It looks as though we have signed James Bailey from Lyon (ex Glaws) aswell.

Bathite wrote:If Bath had made this signing, I bet it would have been the old 'wasted money on another over the hill foreigner, when they could have used an academy player'

Yes your correct.

Isn't Masi primarily a centre, who covers 15 and 10?
With Waldouck gone, I think that's where we're most likely to play him.

I don't think we'll have a definite first XV next season, I think they'll be a lot of rotation

Payne		Zak?
R Thomas		Lindsay
Staibano		McIntyre
Palmer		Filipo
Wentzel		Birkett
Haskell		Launchbury
Poff		Jones
Johnson		Billy V
Simpson		Berry
S Jones		Robinson
Varndell		Bailey
Masi		L Thomas
Bell		Daly
Wade		Mayor?
Southwell		Wallace

To be honest, that's 2 fairly ok squads, with a few other options as backup, like Charlie Davies, Ryan Davis, James Cannon, Matty Everard, Matthews, Thiede and probably a load of others that I can't think of.


All in all, I'm confident that we'll have a better season than we did this past year

Can't really have a worse one can you now?

we could.... we could have been Newcastle (no offence Geordie)

(or we could have been Saracens )

Masi is a good player. Wasps are starting to look like a tougher prospect for next season.......

If Bath had made this signing, I bet it would have been the old 'wasted money on another over the hill foreigner, when they could have used an academy player'

Lol, possibly though I'd have said it would have been a better signing for Bath than Wasps. Bath could use him a lot more in the outside channels etc whilst Wasps seem to need a 12 more which I've not seens Masi play before (13, wing and 15 yes but not 12).

formerly known as Sam wrote:

If Bath had made this signing, I bet it would have been the old 'wasted money on another over the hill foreigner, when they could have used an academy player'

Lol, possibly though I'd have said it would have been a better signing for Bath than Wasps. Bath could use him a lot more in the outside channels etc whilst Wasps seem to need a 12 more which I've not seens Masi play before (13, wing and 15 yes but not 12).

Definitely would have got panned for it, I know it, all too predictable on these boards! Would indeed have been a good signing for us, need centres, don't have cover for Bendy at 15 (and he is with the Saxons), experienced international. Never mind.

ps. Think you and me need commission for this deal Sam. We speculated about him and Bergasmasco a few weeks back!

wasps wrote:we could.... we could have been Newcastle (no offence Geordie)

(or we could have been Saracens )

Not even Saracens want to be saracens!

I know Bathite, if Bath had hired us as scouts/negociators they would have an internationally (and HEC) experienced utility back on the books as well as a much famed and experienced flanker.

I'd take 5% of the deal from Wasps happily.

I'll do 4%!

When is someone going to make a half decent rugby management game?

Bathite wrote:I'll do 4%!

When is someone going to make a half decent rugby management game?

When either one of us wins the lotery and pays for someone to do it, or when hell freezes over.

Bathite wrote:I'll do 4%!

When is someone going to make a half decent rugby management game?

Aw man i wish one would come around...a real good one. But im not sure there is a huge market there that would encourage companies to do it...?

It wasn't that long ago that Wasps had around 13 English players starting each week. Now it's going to more like 5 or 6. Bloody foreign DoR

Bit harsh, especially when you consider Jones, Launchbury, Simpson, Wade, Daly, Lindsay all coming through.

Will they next season though? A lot of injuries last year meant they were forced to pick the young players. I'll wait and see but I'm not particularly hopeful.

Wasps have 15 foreigners in their squad as things stand.

It always depends on whether they're first choice or squad players. 15 1st choice NEQ players is a hell of a lot. 15 NEQ squad players may be just 5 starting which is nothing.

beshocked wrote:Wasps have 15 foreigners in their squad as things stand.

Is that a lot? Are you talking about non English?

What would be the Saracens equivalent value?

I think Bath have 10 non English players, of which 5 are British and Irish, of which 7 at max would start

Really?

Palmer, Lindsay, Launchbury, Wade, Varndell, Daly, Payne, Haskell, Simpson...theres 9 Englishmen to start with...which will probably all near enough start next season.

Falcons went from being a very English / British based team (with a big number from the academy) to a foreign based team and look whats happened. Back to normal next season and we will be back up stronger.

Wasps wont have loads of foreigners in the starting squad

NEQ players at Wasps

S Jones
TR Thomas
L Thomas
A Masi
A Johnson
F Stiabano
Wentzel
P Emmerick
H Southwell
J Poff
N Berry
N Robinson
T du Plessis
S Taulafo
W Taylor
V Korshunov

It could easily be 8-10 of those as 1st choice starters with none getting called up for internationals.

15 out of a squad of 35.

Most of the foreigners signed up seem to be cover. You can call that a good and bad thing. Good because the English players get more gametime but not so good because most of the foreigners don't add to the league in terms of quality.

Bathite depends how you define non English. Do players who have played for England such as Botha,Barritt and Stevens as non English?

Jones will probably be 1st choice, Robinson back up (why did Bell go there?). Southwell will still be starting 15. L Thomas will probably start at 12. Emmerick and Masi will be pushing for 13. Tighthead will be Stiabano, Hooker will be Thomas. One lock will be Wentzel, Johnson will probably be 8 and Poff will probably be 7. If Simpson doesn't find form again Berry will be starting at 9. I can easily see at least 8 NEQ players starting as first choice. With Palmer and Haskell coming back in will Launchbury be starting? I doubt it. With Thomas, Masi and Emmerick will Daly be starting? I doubt it.

As I said I may well be wrong but going from Dia Youngs past and his signings I can see a lot of young players from last year being bench players, at best.

Is this really that new for Wasps?
While I agree that we've often had a core of England Qualified players, there's always been a number of starters that were NEQ.

For Example:
Ibanez, Dowd, Leota, Ward, Betsen, Reddan, Howley, Flutey (before qualification), Van Gisbergen (before qualification), Lemi


While I agree that we have a few more NEQ players in the squad this year, it's not as though it's something completely new for us.
While injuries last season forced us to play some of the academy players earlier than expected, I think that the majority of those will go on to stake claims in the first team within 1 - 2 years.
Providing they stay with Wasps, we'll then have a strong, young core of England qualified players again.

However, the trick is making them stay.... and part of that is done by getting some stability and strengthening the team in the short term... unfortunately, that is often done by getting in foreign players.

Of our likely 1st choice lineup, 8 are not English, but 3 of those would qualify for the Lions, and our bench would probably have have further 2 or 3 NEQ players.
While that's not great, it's not terrible either.

Out of interest what is the opinion of Wasps fans on Hugo Southwell?

Wasps may have bought in a few foriegns but they kicked a heck of a lot too, although mostly squad makeweights. There should actually be less NEQs in their squad this year than last, even if more in the first choice matchday side.

123456789 wrote:Out of interest what is the opinion of Wasps fans on Hugo Southwell?

A rocket of a left peg and obviously well respected by his peers as he won Wasps players player of the year last season. Occasionally surprises our opponents by running with the ball and generally makes good ground.

I'm personally glad Scotland have the highly promising Hogg in as their current FB.

Hugo was a good solid but unspectacular player at Edinburgh and for Scotland. Perhaps a wee bit like Dan Parks in that he had a limited repertoire but what he did do, he did pretty well.
Is signing an Italian centre not only marginally up the food chain from signing a Scottish one? Italians aren't really known for the flair

Well Masi got player of the 6 nations recently didn't he?

Regarding the number of NEQ players on the Wasps roster this season, I am not bothered by it. Right now, they don't have the luxury of planning for the future. They were a hair away from being relegated, but the ball bounced favourably for them (as well as Varndell made that play). They have to do whatever is necessary to become stable again, then they can start more and better long term planning.

Speaking of the Falcons, a few years ago didn't they field an all EQ match day XXII against someone? I remember it made news, with some flattering comments in the media as well as a few surprisingly critical comments. Don't remember if they won that day, though.

beshocked wrote:15 out of a squad of 35.

Most of the foreigners signed up seem to be cover. You can call that a good and bad thing. Good because the English players get more gametime but not so good because most of the foreigners don't add to the league in terms of quality.

Bathite depends how you define non English. Do players who have played for England such as Botha,Barritt and Stevens as non English?

For the purpose of this argument non english means that they can't play for england, so those three are all EQ.