Very little is panning out smoothly for Wasps right now and this heart-breaking last-minute defeat may soon feel like the least of their worries. It appears increasingly likely the club will enter administration within the next week or so and a major row is already brewing as to whether they should be able, in that event, to swerve automatic relegation.
The former Wasps and England captain Lawrence Dallaglio suggested on BT Sport that his old club should be spared demotion on the grounds that, unlike the already relegated Worcester, they were too big a name for the English Premiership to lose.
“The reality is do you want to lose one of the biggest brands in world rugby and one of the brands that’s been one of the most successful sides in the Premiership?” asked Dallaglio rhetorically. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
That view is not shared by those Worcester employees still trying to pick up the pieces following their own team’s Premiership eviction and relies heavily on the Rugby Football Union determining that Covid-19 has been the primary cause of Wasps’ financial headaches. As yet the club have yet to repay the seven-year bonds which raised £35m to fund their stadium move to Coventry in 2014, in addition to £2m in unpaid tax.
Reports over the weekend have linked the ex-Wasps chief executive David Armstrong, now working with the investment firm Terminum Capital, with a potential £50m bid to buy the club and its Coventry Arena stadium.
Negotiations are said to be well advanced but any deal is understood to hinge on the club entering administration, with attempts being made to persuade the RFU and Premiership Rugby that relegation need not apply in Wasps’ case because it falls under the “no-fault” clause in the regulations.
The club’s parent company, Wasps Holdings, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on 21 September and issued a second notice last week, the idea being to give themselves more time to negotiate a way out of their financial problems. There was speculation that the club might follow Worcester and ultimately be suspended from playing Premiership fixtures but the club’s director of rugby, Lee Blackett, said he and his squad were “preparing as if we’re playing Exeter next week.”
If the 14-team Premiership were to see two clubs enter administration within a matter of weeks it would represent a major dent to the image of the league, with several other clubs also understood to be looking for fresh investment. The only good news is that the actual product has rarely been more gripping, unless you happen to be a Wasps fan looking on aghast as their club let slip another big lead.
It was a shame that all the off-field uncertainty conspired to overshadow a stunning finale, with a 14-man Wasps having led 36-28 with two minutes remaining. The decisive turning point effectively came in the 67th minute when Jacob Umaga, one of the game’s most influential figures who also kicked two fine penalties from his own half to help his side into a 33-21 lead, was red-carded for taking out Courtnall Skosan in the air, knocking himself out and conceding a penalty try for good measure.
With an extra man advantage, a reinvigorated Northampton duly poured forward with fresh vigour and put the energetic Alex Coles in for his second try of the game. Even then, with the clock in the red, a tiring Wasps still led by a point only for Saints to move the ball wide one final time and send the pacy replacement Skosan over in the right corner.
It was sheer agony for Wasps, who had lost Dan Robson and Joe Launchbury at half-time with concussion and a back spasm respectively and were also responsible for the day’s outstanding try when the fly-half Charlie Atkinson started and finished a brilliant 60-metre score, assisted by Josh Bassett’s educated left boot and a bobbling ball which bounced loose off Tommy Freeman. Even the Saints’ director of rugby Phil Dowson, though, had some sympathy for the hosts.
“Wasps are a club with a lot of history and they are in purgatory at the moment,” Dowson said. “I really hope they can get through this soon.”
