IT’s not rocket science, but the reason Wasps have hit the buffers in the last month is because Christian Wade and Tom Varndell have been watching from the sidelines.

They’ve had to make do with one or the other for most of the campaign, but in the past month neither of last season’s top Aviva Premiership try scorers have been available.

Director of rugby Dai Young said: “It’s been a disappointing month for us with results. I don’t think our performances have been hugely different with us winning and losing, it’s just that we haven’t had that cutting edge.

“When we won nine out of 11 the biggest difference was people like Christian Wade and Tom Varndell.

“It’s not like we’ve gone from winning by 30 points to losing by 30 points.

“We’ve gone from winning by less than seven to losing by less than seven. We’ve been in every game.

“I don’t think we were really good when we were winning and really bad when we were winning.

“We’ve just lacked a bit of sparkle that can turn narrow losses into narrow wins.

“We lost five in a row but we could have won every won if you sprinkle that little bit of stardust.

“Instead of getting three points from our pressure we’d be getting seven and that would put us in a different situation.”

Wade is out for the season but Varndell is still hoping to be back in time to make an impact this season.