News

Rees backs Betsen's sting

October 03 2008

Tom Rees believes the arrival of Serge Betsen at Wasps will help inspire the fallen European champions to make up for last year's disappointment and conquer the continent once again.

Wasps failed to reach the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup in 2007-08 and that intense disappointment still rankles at a club so used to success.

"Last year we didn't live up to our expectations in the Heineken Cup, which is the premier European competition. To do well is our priority," said Rees.

Lawrence Dallaglio did lift the Guinness Premiership title but he has now gone and Wasps struggled without his influence in the opening weeks of the new season.

In the background, Betsen was readying himself for a return to action following a knee injury, having swapped Biarritz for Wasps during the summer.

Betsen won 63 caps for France, retiring after the World Cup, and he has carried with him to Wasps a reputation as one of European rugby's most effective back-row destroyers.

Rees is convinced Betsen will not only replace Dallaglio's lost experience in a young Wasps back-row but drive them on to greater things.

"Betsen is one of the senior back row players in world rugby," said Rees.

"He has so many caps and he is a guy who could be in the twilight of his career but he has come into a new club with as much an energy and enthusiasm as the academy kids.

"That galvanises people around you.

"We pride ourselves on our work ethic and he has soaked all of that up and got straight into it. It adds to the place and stops people from becoming stale.

"I saw him come back from his knee injury in an A team game and he was leading from the front straight away, doing all the things that have earned him his reputation.

"You cant limit his experience to Europe just because he is a foreign player but he will definitely have a positive effect on Wasps.

"It is massively important to do well in the Heineken Cup. We have underperformed in it last year and it will be a target to put that right."

Wasps were defending champions last year but paid the price for being drawn in the ultimate 'Group of Death' with eventual champions Munster, Clermont and the Scarlets.

Wasps started inconsistently and their fate was sealed with a 19-3 defeat to Munster at the impenetrable Thomand Park in the final round when they needed victory in order to qualify.

This year the Heineken Cup organisers introduced a new system.

Wasps' European history ensured they were top seeds in a group also featuring Leinster, Edinburgh and Castres.

"There will be no easy games for us," said Wasps coach Shaun Edwards.

"I remember our defeat at Edinburgh in 2005 and Leinster are one of the most talented teams in Europe and always a danger.

"Castres are a team on the up in France and have in the past proved one of the most difficult teams to beat on the big occasion.

"We experienced that in the 2006-07 season - the year we won the Cup - when both our games against them went down to the wire."