Josh Bassett looking to build on Wasps' success in Premiership 7s

Wasps wing Josh Bassett expressed delight on his club's success at Premiership 7s as they look to claim their hat-trick title in the upcoming edition in Northampton this weekend.

The Ricoh Arena outfit had a productive last three seasons where they finished second in 2015 and went on to win the titles in 2016 and 2017.

Bassett, who captained them to the victory in 2016 also scored seven tries from five matches last year with Wasps going on to beat Newcastle Falcons 31-12 in the final.

“For us the boys at Wasps we obviously really enjoy it having won it the last two years and being runners-up previously.

“It exposes you as a rugby player, you have to show off your tackling, your rucking and everything’s heightened.

“We get to go out there and express ourselves at a point of pre-season where you’ve been doing a lot of running.”

Bassett suffered a setback in the previous season when he was sidelined with a hamstring injury after scoring seven tries in 12 games for Wasps.

The 26-year-old is delighted by the arrival of Brad Shields and Lima Sopoaga and believes the duo will play a vital role in the upcoming Gallagher Premiership season.

“Brad Shields playing for England has been absolutely amazing and we’re really excited to get Lima Sopoaga involved – a fly-half that’s played for the All Blacks.

“It’s going to be really exciting to see what they come and add to the team, but also use their mentality and their environment from playing in Super Rugby to then bring that mentality.

“We had a few bad results at the beginning of last season and probably paid for it a bit later on.

“For us it’s about hitting the ground running, getting the results and if we can eventually get to that top four then that would be great.”

Wasps are positioned in Pool A along with Gloucester Rugby and Northampton Saints.