Dear Shaun...
Paul Ackford, writing in The Daily Telegraph, wonders how Shaun Edwards will respond to Wasps' poor season.
"Changing owner midseason didn't help either. People tell me the new boss, Steve Hayes, is one of the lads and has the club's best interests at heart. But he didn't handle the contract situation very well at all, issuing ultimatums to James Haskell, Tom Rees, Danny Cipriani and the rest, creating a media frenzy out of what should have been routine negotiations.
"As for that Cipriani? You have championed him all season but haven't you lumped too much on him, expecting him to control games and drag you out of a crisis when he is still very inexperienced and not fully recovered from that serious ankle injury? I suppose it wasn't great Martin Johnson rushed him into the England side in the autumn and then dumped him, but maybe you could have handled him a little better too.
"I don't want to appear too critical. You've had your misfortunes after all. Your two best tight heads, Phil Vickery and Pat Barnard, have been out of action for much of the campaign, and your young tyros are taking longer to come through than, no doubt, you expected. The injuries to Rees, Tom Palmer and Joe Worsley also knocked you off course a little, as did indifferent performances from Paul Sackey, one of your – what's the phrase agents use nowadays? – marquee players. But all clubs accommodate injuries and loss of form during a season, and you have done so unblinkingly in the past."
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