Sorry for missing last week’s folks, I did write one but an impromptu trip to Somerset (i.e. decided on it 1½ hours before departure) meant I forgot to mail it.  Back this week though, for what for me is always the biggest game of the season.

Yes, after obviously who we are playing on the opening day and if necessary when our first home game is, this Falcon looks immediately for Wasps at home.  This rivalry in my mind is a throwback to the days when we were newcomers in the Premiership, steamrolling our way to the title, and there was a little animosity between the then-Londoners and ourselves over our recruitment of five of their team in 1995.  Fortunately this has died down, but it is still a big match because of Wasps stature in the game.

The European and English Champions arrive in the North East on the back of a narrow 9-12 home defeat to Bath last Saturday, Wasps’ points coming from two Mark Van Gisbergen penalties and a drop goal from James Brooks in a tryless encounter.  Before this they missed out narrowly on joining us in the Heineken Cup knockout rounds, being defeated 18-15 at Biarritz and losing out to the conquerors and compatriots Leicester in Pool 1.  However, over the Christmas period the boys from High Wycombe had two useful results in the Premiership, beating Gloucester 33-20 and then defeating Harlequins 15-27 at the Stoop.

Wasps’ away form has been very strong this season.  They have won at Bath, Northampton, Gloucester and Leeds as well as Quins, but lost at Worcester in November and against Saracens at Twickenham in August, in what was officially Saracens’ home game.  However, the wins at Franklin’s Gardens, Headingley and the Rec were achieved by only 1, 4 and 3 points respectively, suggesting they are not infallible.

Wasps find themselves currently second in the Premiership, 11 points behind leaders Leicester and 2 ahead of Sale in third.  They will be desperate for points this weekend, despite missing Josh Lewsey, Joe Worsley and Matt Dawson on England duty.

Not that that is a huge worry when your squad still contains Alex King, Van Gisbergen, Phil Greening, former All Black Craig Dowd and World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio.

We, on the other hand, will lose Mathew Tait and Jamie Noon to the Millenium Stadium match, and Stuart Grimes will be with Scotland.  Fortunately David Walder is fit enough to be on the bench, and Michael Stephenson returns to the starting lineup.  Mark Wilkinson continues at fly-half.

This is of course our second meeting with Wasps this season, having been defeated 43-29 at the Causeway Stadium in October.  Epi Taione scored the opening try of the game, but Wasps soon asserted themselves and Richard Birkett, Tom Voyce and Joe Worsley all crossed in the first half for the home side, though Jamie Noon pulled a converted try back before half time.  Colin Charvis, who only misses international duty because of injury this weekend, scored at the start of the second half to reduce our deficit to 28-22, but Van Gisbergen and Ayoola Erinle scored more tries for Wasps, our only consolation being Michael Stephenson securing a try bonus point near the end.

Our team and scorers that day was: Matthew Burke, Tom May (39, Mathew Tait) , Jamie Noon 1T, Epi Taione 1T, Michael Stephenson 1T, Jonny Wilkinson (c) 3C 1P, Hall Charlton, Micky Ward (40, James Isaacson) , Andy Long, Marius Hurter (64, Ian Peel) , Luke Gross (65, Craig Hamilton) , Stuart Grimes, Mike McCarthy (74, Ed Williamson) , Colin Charvis 1T, Semo Sititi.

Our 22-game competitive record against Wasps, which includes the 1999 Cup Final and goes very much in their favour, reads so:

Despite Wasps’ quality, we are not too bad ourselves and go into the match on Sunday on the back of 8 unbeaten home games, and 7 wins in a row.  We have only lost once this season at Kingston Park, against Leicester, and if we are looking to get back into contention for the top 3 or even 4 or 5 for a European Cup spot, we must win this weekend.  But this will only be achieved a) if the management use more of a strategy than at Saracens, and b) if the fans make as much noise as we did against Newport.  We have proved we can do it, and there’s no excuse for not doing it every game.  Rob Andrew will be desperate to put one over his old club, let’s hope that by Sunday evening he’s the one celebrating, not Dallaglio.

Andrew fields this lineup on Sunday:

15 Matt Burke
14 Tom May
13 Mark Mayerhofler
12 Epi Taione
11 Michael Stephenson
10 Mark Wilkinson
9 James Grindal

1 Ian Peel (captain)
2 Matt Thompson
3 Micky Ward
4 Luke Gross
5 Craig Hamilton
6 Semo Sititi
7 Cory Harris
8 Phil Dowson

Replacements

16 James Isaacson
17 Andy Long
18 Mike McCarthy
19 Geoff Parling
20 Lee Dickson
21 David Walder

22 Joe Shaw

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