Wasps skipper Launchbury fit and ready

Editor

Wasps will be missing plenty of faces ahead of the Premiership season, but not skipper Joe Launchbury.

Flanker Thomas Young, James Haskell, Tommy Taylor, Sam Jones and Kyle Eastmond will all be out injured for the season kick-off this weekend.

Lock forward Launchbury did miss the warm-ups against Ulster and Connacht, but for positive reasons and is fresh ahead of the campaign.

“I’ve had a disjointed summer as I got married,” he told Coventry Telegraph.

“I went away for three weeks at the end of the Argentina tour, came back to Wasps for a couple of weeks then went away again for my honeymoon to the Seychelles which was lovely and relaxing.

“I’ve been back again for four weeks now and I’m feeling good – refreshed and really excited for what’s ahead.”

Since returning, Launchbury saw that a lot of focus was being placed upon fixing mistakes made last season.

“It’s been a really productive pre-season as I’ve come back to a club where it’s full steam ahead, everyone’s working really hard on the pitch and the new additions are settling in really well,” he said.

“We feel confident in where we are and the continual growth of the club over the past few years has been fantastic to be part of.

“There’s a long way to go for us and we don’t feel by any stretch that we are the finished article. At times last year we won games by the skin of our teeth, so we know there are improvements that we need to make, and that the work we have already done will hold us in good stead when the games are coming around thick and fast.”