Blackett: Our biggest game for two seasons

Not since 2020, when they were runners-up in the Premiership, have Wasps reached the latter stages of a major competition – and they are aiming to capitalise.

“It’s probably our biggest game for a couple of seasons, since we were in the knockout stages of the Premiership two seasons ago,” Blackett said.

“Whenever you start pre-seasons, these are the moments you do it all for – to get to the knockout stages of competitions.

“The amount of competitions you can win in a season isn’t big, so when you get to the knockout stages of one, you’re going to get excitement, which is driven massively by the players.

“The beauty of Europe is that you’re playing teams you don’t play week in, week out. It’s enjoyable, it’s different, and everyone likes things which are different. Quite a lot of the boys have never been to Lyon.”

Just one step from the Final

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It is Wasps’ third successive away tie in the competition – following victories at Biarritz Olympique and Edinburgh Rugby – and Blackett is expecting another tough game.

“Lyon are in form and are a big collision team who score tries in broken field,” he said. “If we made this game an individual game and it came down to individual moments, they have people who can really hurt you.

“So have we, but if the game breaks up and becomes loose, then they have people who can hurt you big time. But there are certain things that we’ve seen and we’ll be going after.

“The pleasing thing with the win against Edinburgh was how we reacted to things when the crowd was against us. In France they can be really hostile and have a big influence, so we must not let those decisions affect us.

“That’s going to be the big focus for us – don’t get frustrated, as things will go against us. It’s how we react to them.”

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Scrum-half Dan Robson believes this season is a chance for a largely young Wasps team to follow in the footsteps of the 2004 and 2007 European Cup-winning sides, as well as the 2003 Challenge Cup-winning squad.

“We have spoken about how important the history of this club is and we’re very proud to be in the situation we are,” he said.

“But we have got to write our own bit of history – we can’t keep looking back. With this new young crop, it is exciting. We’ve got to realise that these opportunities don’t come around often.”