What is the definition of a good squad? You might very well think that it is one that can have 10 men away playing in the World Cup, 2 injured, 2 spare and ALL the rest named in the 22 – and still have a line-up of the quality Wasps have named.

Cipriani and Haskell have big points to prove, as does Tom Palmer. Waldouck was one of the finds of the last season, and Voyce and Waters have shown they are class acts and Doherty is pretty sharp. In fact there are no obvious weaknesses, as far as I can see. Scrum and lineout should be decent, and there is a lot of zip in the backs.

So what of Saracens? Being brutally honest, without Jackson it looks a beatable team. The scrum will not be outclassed, but certainly doesn’t look to me that it will crush Wasps, and the same applies to the lineout. The two back rows are fairly evenly matched, but I give Sarries the edge at scrum half. I am very happy with Super Kev and Powelly at centre, but I do wonder why the Gaffer has chosen Penney and Leonelli on the wings and put Percy Thrower and Del on the bench.

I have to say the Gaffer’s judgement is rather better than mine (which is ironic understatement by the way), and of course he has been watching them in action over the last couple of months, which I have not. If he has made the right choice for the right reasons (e.g. not because of injuries), they should put up quite a performance.

A key area, then, is 10, and I reckon that if Gordon Ross has a good day, we will win. If he has a ’mare, so will we all. I think it will be close, but I think that we will clinch it in the last 10 or 15 minutes, if only because our bench is a lot stronger than theirs. Sarries to win by 3.

15 Dan. Scarbrough, 14 Rod. Penney, 13 Kevin. Sorrell, 12 Adam. Powell, 11 Francisco Leonelli, 10 Gordon. Ross, 9 Neil. de Kock (c), 11 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Richard Hill, 6 Kris Chesney, 5 Hugh Vyvyan, 4 Tom Ryder, 3 Tom Mercey, 2 Matt Cairns, 1 Nick Lloyd

Replacements: 16. Andy Kyriacou, 17. Kevin Yates, 18. Ian Fullarton, 19. David Seymour, 20. Alan Dickens, 21. Edd Thrower, 22. Richard Haughton

15 Danny Cipriani, 14 David Doherty, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Dominic Waldouck, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Riki Flutey, 9 Mark McMillan, 1 Tom French, 2 James Buckland, 3 Pat Barnard, 4 Richard Birkett, 5 Tom Palmer, 6 John Hart (c), 7 George Skivington, 8 James Haskell

Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Michael Holford, 19 Hugo Ellis, 20 Simon Amor, 21 Mark Van Gisbergen, 22 Chris Bishay

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