Nowadays, of course, London Irish like London Wasps have departed to a football ground some miles distant from the 'London' of their name. Inevitably, for both clubs, something of the old atmosphere has been lost along the way. Perhaps it's just the natural loss of intimacy that comes with larger crowds and bigger stadiums – after all, even the clubs who have developed their own grounds, the Northamptons and Harlequins, seem to have lost something of the intimacy and friendliness they once had (although Quins, I think, come closest to maintaining that feel of the past – a lesson, ironically, that they were taught by Irish when the Exiles were briefly tenants some seasons ago). When members become customers and clubs become businesses, perhaps the peripheral entertainments that used to make a visit to Sunbury so rewarding become the first casualties of the bottom line. But if that's the case, what makes up for it? What is the quid pro quo?

It was reported in the week that Irish are currently trying to advance plans that would see them moving to brand new, state-of-the-art training facilities, abandoning their current Sunbury base for good. The ground at which so much amateur-era fun and games were to be had will be bulldozed and built on, a fate that has already befallen Wasps' old ground at Sudbury. Why? Because, I suppose, they believe that this will give them a greater chance of winning things. It will give them an edge, both in terms of training and recruitment. Or at the very least it will enable them to keep pace with those clubs who have already done the same thing.

Winning. High performance. That's the quid pro quo. Sacrifices off the pitch are expected to be compensated for by successes (and hopefully entertainment) on it. And you can't deny that London Irish are moving in the right direction in these terms. Last season they reached the Guinness Premiership final playing some of the most adventurous rugby in the league. The season before they made the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup, suffering a narrow loss to French giants Toulouse at Twickenham. This season, after an uncharacteristically sloppy loss to Saracens at the double-header (a game which they could and should have won), they hit their straps with a 40-10 demolition of Gloucester. They followed this up with a fifty point thumping of Leeds last Sunday. If they carry on playing like that, running in tries for fun, then I don't suppose many of the fans in the Madejski crowd will be nostalgically crying into their pints about Sunbury.

Wasps, of course, have had all the success in the world. The long-ago loss of Sudbury, of real roots, has been more than compensated for, if on-field success is your quid pro quo. We are currently (albeit long-windedly) looking at moving to a brand new stadium in partnership with Wycombe Wanderers. It would be nice to think that any such stadium, the first (to my knowledge) being built with both rugby and football in mind, would be designed at least as much for rugby fans as for their football equivalents. Take the best from the dedicated rugby grounds and incorporate it into the design – try to ensure that the match-day experience is as much about the day as the match. Is that too much for a customer to ask?

On the pitch, Wasps have started the season in bewildering fashion – by winning games. But Sunday at the Madejski will undoubtedly be the hardest match to date. We have a good record against London Irish in the Premiership, with a 15-9 win/loss record, and have won on two of our last three league visits to Reading. However, you feel that we will have to up our performance considerably from the match against Worcester to compete this time around.

In the Irish team, the most significant change over the summer came at fly-half, with the departure of Shane Geraghty and the arrival of Ryan Lamb from Gloucester. In the first match at Twickenham, Lamb didn't really deliver the performance Toby Booth and Mike Catt would have been expecting, but he was man of the match against Gloucester and contributed six conversions and three penalties against Leeds. I think you can probably say he's settled in.

In the backs, Lamb is surrounded by bulk and then more bulk. Saliosi Tagicakibau, Seilala Mapusua, Elvis Seveali'i – in the old days at Sunbury they would have made a half-decent front-row. One thing's for sure, the Wasps midfield are going to have a bruising day one way or another. And if Lamb has an off-day with the boot, there's always Peter Hewat to call on. The loss of Delon Armitage is a blow, but Irish have the personnel to cover it.

Up front, Nick Kennedy will be looking to steal lineout ball, Steffon Armitage likewise at ruck time. Wasps did well in these areas last week and will need to step up to the plate again. The maul was less successful against a strong Worcester pack (why we insisted on trying it again and again is anyone's guess) – let's hope there's been some fine tuning in practice this week. In the backs, Dominic Waldouck had a fine return and, if Steve Kefu has failed to recover from his groin problem, will surely start at inside centre again. The rest of the backline should be as you were.

The predictions don't get any easier. Wasps have been playing effectively without really hitting the heights as yet. Irish have hit some heights but then Gloucester and Leeds are difficult opponents to gauge. All in all, though, I'd have to go with home advantage yet again and suggest Irish will sneak a tight one...with lots of tries...if that makes sense.

KEY MEN

This week – everyone.

London Wasps: 15 Lachlan Mitchell; 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Ben Jacobs, 12 Dominic Waldouck, 11 Tom Varndell; 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Joe Simpson; 1 Tim Payne, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 George Skivington, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 Joe Worsley, 7 Serge Betsen (capt.), 8 John Hart

Bench: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Ben Broster, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Dan Ward-Smith, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Dave Walder, 23 Mark Odejobi

London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat; 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson; 1 Clarke Dermody, 2 David Paice, 3 Paulica Ion, 4 Nick Kennedy, 5 Bob Casey(capt.), 6 Declan Danaher, 7 Steffon Armitage, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia

Bench: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 Danie Coetzee, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Andy Perry, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Chris Malone, 22 Peter Richards, 23 Alfredo Lalanne

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