This isn't meant to be a dig at our opposition this weekend. In many ways both Saracens and Wasps have trodden similar paths in the professional era. Both have torn themselves away from their London roots (although unlike Sudbury, the Bramley Road ground still exists), both have relocated to satellite towns in the home counties, and both now ply their trade in football stadiums. Indeed, such is the similarity between the two clubs that Nigel Wray is once supposed to have suggested some kind of merger between them. To the eternal relief of both sets of fans, no doubt, such a venture never got off the ground.

While off-pitch manoeuvres have followed roughly the same paths, however, the on-pitch fates of the two clubs could hardly be more different. Saracens' sole title in the professional era came in 1998's Tetley's Bitter Cup, where they beat Wasps 48-18 in a thoroughly one-sided final at Twickenham. That year they also came second in the league, pipped to the title (by a single point) by Rob Andrew's built-for-purpose squad up at Newcastle. It seemed likely, back then, that Saracens had it in them to go on and win more trophies in the future, if they could handle the departures of key imports like Michael Lynagh and Philippe Sella. And that didn't seem like too difficult a task - all they needed was Wray's money and the consistent, guiding hand of an experienced head coach/director of rugby.

Well, they got Wray's money. Unfortunately, much of Saracens' history since 2000 has been an object lesson in how not to run a professional rugby enterprise. They have been through directors of rugby and head coaches as though such people come with a best before date stamped on their foreheads. Mark Evans, Francois Pienaar, Wayne Shelford, Rod Kafer, Steve Diamond, Mike Ford, Alan Gaffney and Eddie Jones have all been through the Vicarage Road wringer. In the same time span, Wasps had just three directors of rugby, continuity through succession planning and a settled coaching set-up throughout.

Players have been just as expendable in Saracens' recent history. Near annual upheavals of the squad have meant that almost every season begins with the need to bed down. Marquee players have come with great fanfare and gone without taking the club onwards. The story of Raphael Ibanez is a telling one. Yet another of Sarries' high-profile signings, he arrived at the club in 2003. In the next two seasons, instead of leading the club into the upper echelons of the Premiership and Europe, he instead went from starting line-up to bench, and appeared to be winding down into retirement. Indeed, it looked as though Sarries had signed another of those ex-internationals looking for nothing more than a couple of years to top up his pension arrangements.

In 2005, however, Ibanez left Saracens and signed for Wasps. The transformation was immediate. Back came the man who had played over fifty tests for France; back came the dynamic, ball-playing, leading-from-the-front hooker who had become one of the most recognisable faces in world rugby. Back, in short, came the winner. So what had happened at Saracens? What sort of club was capable of taking this proud international captain and turning him into a bench-warmer? There were clearly problems at Vicarage Road that no amount of Nigel Wray's lucre could rectify.

Well, money isn't always the issue. A steady, experienced hand on the tiller has always been a major requirement for Premiership success. It seemed that Saracens had finally got just this when Alan Gaffney arrived at the club in 2006. He lasted two years but there was an orderly, organised handover to Eddie Jones in 2008 and the mass, off-season spending-sprees of previous campaigns had been reduced to tinkering around the edges; continuity seemed finally to have seeped into the Saracens culture. Results picked up – in 2006/7 they made the Premiership play-offs for the first time. In 2007/8 they reached the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup, where they narrowly lost to eventual champions Munster at the Ricoh Arena.

But then the South Africans arrived. A consortium headed by billionaire businessman Johann Rupert invested in the club, rumours sprang up again, the 2008/9 season was blighted by speculation over the future of Eddie Jones, and then, even before the season had come to a close, Brendan Venter was announced as the new director of rugby and news emerged that a substantial minority of the squad had been told their services wouldn't be required next season. Just as they seemed to have got themselves on track, the old tendency to self-destruct appeared to have struck Saracens once again.

And so we arrive at the 2009/10 season, and there you go, just as we expected, Saracens are in disarray...or not, as it turns out. Somehow the messy change at the top and the influx of new players hasn't had its usual effect. On the contrary, so far Saracens seem to be winning. Credit for much of this must go to Venter, an experienced coach who previously had a stint at London Irish. Much criticism has been made of Sarries' style of play this term, but winning rugby is winning rugby. Venter has got a squad of players, many of whom are new to the club, buying into a pattern of play that has so far yielded seven wins out of seven in the Guinness Premiership and just one competitive loss all season – to Northampton in the LV= Cup last week. It's hard to see that there's any validity in criticising an approach to the game that yields those sorts of statistics. If Saracens are so one-dimensional, then it's up to opposition coaches to exploit this and find ways of beating them, isn't it? It's the old Leicester argument – it's only negative rugby if you're on the receiving end of it.

Of the new players at Saracens this season, one of the most eye-catching is Schalk Brits, the human dynamo of a hooker who seems to be everywhere at once when he's on the field. Effectively an auxiliary back-row (if not centre), he is joined in the pack by Italian international prop Carlos Nieto, veteran second-row/back-row Hugh Vyvyan,and up and coming back rower Andy Saull. Curiously for a club so used to changing its personnel, the half back partnership of de Kock and Jackson is one of the most settled in the Premiership. In the backs, Alex Goode, the former England under-twenty fly-half, is making a name for himself at full-back, and wings Richard Haughton and Noah Cato can make life difficult for anyone. A tight game-plan Saracens may have, but they also have the players to play it fast and loose if required (as evidenced by the game against South Africa in the week). Whether we will see many of them on Sunday, however, is a different question.

As for Wasps, we now enter a five week period that director of rugby Tony Hanks has described as absolutely critical to our season. International call-ups will deny us the services of Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Tim Payne and David Lemi this weekend, but the Wasps fans travelling to Vicarage Road will be expecting a competitive, committed performance from the men in...er...white. They'll certainly be expecting it to be more skilful than the match against Leeds or the first half against Gloucester in the LV= Cup.

Scrummaging and mauling remain a concern, and will be tested against this Saracens pack. The former can in large part be put down to the number of front-row injuries we have sustained this season. The latter is baffling and seems (in this layman's eyes) to be a matter of technique. Opposition players are splintering our maul too easily, getting to the ball carrier and forcing him to go to ground. I'm sure Trevor Woodman and the forwards have been working on this but if Sarries are going to be playing a territorial kicking game and working from set-piece, then our work in this area has to be pinpoint accurate. On the plus side, Wasps' lineout has been much improved this season – let's hope the mockers haven't just been put on it.

Finally, looking back on my last preview, I asked what the point of the LV= Cup might be. Last week, I had an answer. Seeing Jack Wallace come out for his debut in the Wasps first team and put in such an assured, confident performance at full-back (until crocked by Olly Morgan) – this alone made the LV= Cup seem worthwhile. If it exposes young players to the highest level without heaping the pressure of GP or European competition on them, then the cup will surely have found its place. And if Ugo Monye needs lessons on catching the high ball, he now knows where to go!

PREDICTION: Wasps are 16-7 ahead in Premiership history, but...the head says Sarries.

KEY MEN:

WASPS – the entire front five, as usual – give us a decent platform and Wasps can win

SARRIES – Brits. You just have to stop the man.

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