But there's another team, another club that seems, almost without notice, to have played its part in many of Wasps' most significant campaigns, needing to be overcome at critical moments (not always successfully). That club is Northampton.


Take the 1996/7 season. Wasps and Leicester had been battling it out for the last ever Courage League title and with two games to go, Wasps had finally nosed ahead. Needing only one more win to secure the league, the fixtures gods sent us to Franklin's Gardens. A nervy match, the result in the balance right up until late in the second half, it was only settled when Gareth Rees (Gawd bless 'im) fed a flat (not forward!) pass out to Kenny Logan and the Scotsman, in his first season at the club, crossed the try-line to seal the victory. The post-match celebrations were lively and immensely good-natured, relief and joy washed down with the genuine congratulations of Saints fans. A day never to be forgotten (unless, perhaps, you were one of those who returned to Sudbury post-match, in which case the whole thing has probably become something of a blur).


Wind forward three years to 2000, and two more big meetings with Northampton. First, a Heineken Cup quarter-final, again at Franklin's Gardens. Another nervy match, Wasps playing much of the attacking rugby but cursed by ill-discipline (never a good move with Paul Grayson on the opposition). It was twenty-two points apiece with seconds remaining when suddenly referee Clayton Thomas conferred with his touch-judge, and between the two of them they conjured up a penalty in a part of the pitch which didn't seem to have been visited by anybody in the last five minutes. Confusion! Consternation! (Or wild excitement if you happened to be wearing green with your black and gold). Up stepped Grayson, popped the ball over the bar - match over, Northampton into the semi-finals.


A month or so later, the two teams met again, this time in the Tetley's Bitter Cup Final. One year previously, Wasps had finally broken their duck and overcome Newcastle to win their first domestic cup final. Now they were up against Saints, who were aiming for a cup double themselves, having gone on from their Heineken Cup quarter-final victory to beat Llanelli in the semis, in another nail-biting match (Grayson again kicking the winning points). Unlike the quarter-final, though, this day was to be Wasps'. Scoring four tries to Northampton's one in blazing sunshine at Twickenham, accompanied by the no-nonsense advice and liberal use of the yellow card from Yorkshire's finest, Brian Campsall, Wasps ran out victors by thirty-one points to twenty-three. Two weeks later Northampton grabbed the small consolation of a Heineken Cup victory, all their points scored by – yes, you've guessed it – that man Paul Grayson.


The 2002/3 and 2003/4 seasons provided two more significant clashes with Saints. Play-offs and grand-finals now decided the Premiership champions, and in the first two seasons of the new format Wasps faced Northampton in the semi-finals. The first meeting saw Wasps come out on top, nineteen points to ten, and go on to beat an understandably disgruntled Gloucester in the final. The second clash, a year later, witnessed another Wasps triumph, this time an emphatic, eight try, 57-20 demolition of the men from Franklin's Gardens. The subsequent Premiership final was devoid of similar fireworks, as Wasps overcame Bath 10-6 with a distinctly workmanlike performance, but you could forgive the team for that – a week earlier they'd won their first Heineken Cup at Twickenham, with the denoument of all denouements - Howley, Poitrenaud, and the video ref!


Move on three more years, to 2007 and the Heineken Cup once again. A semi-final, no less, and Northampton were the opponents once more. Bizarrely, Saints were relegated the same season, but had reached the Heineken semis courtesy of a best runners-up spot and a 7-6 victory over a highly unambitious Biarritz side in the quarter-final in San Sebastian. Coventry's Ricoh Arena was the setting for the latest Wasps-Northampton clash. Was it too long since the 2000 quarter-final for anybody to be thinking of revenge? Perhaps, but you wouldn't put it past Lawrence to seize on every last scrap of history he could find if it would help motivate the team.


Saints started the game the better, racing into a 13-0 lead after sixteen minutes and leading 13-8 at the break. Another nervy one seemed to be on the cards, and even if none of the players had 2000 in mind, you can be sure as hell that it was flashing through the memories of some of us up in the stands. Fortunately, Wasps took charge in the second half and ended up comfortable winners, thirty points to thirteen, sparing their fans the agony of another last-minute defeat. The rest, as they say, is history.


Twelve years, six matches. Reading the above, you'd be forgiven for thinking that both teams have been hovering around the top of the rugby tree throughout that period. For Wasps, this is more or less true. But what of Northampton? What of the 2000 Heineken Cup champions, nine and a half years after their triumph?


Often talked of as a sleeping giant of the game, many expected that victory in 2000 to catapult Saints into the big time. Instead, the giant appeared to open one eye, take a brief look around, consume a job-lot of Rohypnol, and promptly return to its slumber. Northampton remain something of an enigma, the 'other' half of the East Midlands double act (with due apologies to Bedford et al) - the Andrew Ridgeley, if you will, of the Guinness Premiership's M1 corridor. A big club they may think themselves to be, but they only have to look a few miles up the road to get a true sense of perspective.


For an outsider, the past nine years have been baffling to witness. Northampton seem to have had everything required to be consistently successful: the money, the facilities, the support. And yet... There have been rumours of splits in the playing squad. They have gone through coaches like there's no tomorrow. And a soft underbelly, evident even under Wayne Smith when they were reaching Premiership semi-finals, has been exposed for all to see, culminating in that relegation in 2007. How could they have fallen so far? How could that have happened to a club like Northampton?


In retrospect, it looks to have been a blessing in disguise. Following relegation, a new coaching team came on board: the experienced pairing of Jim Mallinder and Dorian West. Dead wood was cleared out and new signings were made. Their season in National Division One was a procession. Promotion was attained with substantial room to spare, and last season, their first back in the Premiership, they finished a creditable eighth, turning Franklin's Gardens into a fortress in the process. At the end of the season they also secured a Heineken Cup place with victory in the European Challenge Cup, and in doing so removed Wasps' last, lingering hope of qualifying themselves. Iced schadenfreude all round, barman.


The Northampton of 2009 is a tightly-knit squad of quality players and coaches who seem to be getting the best out of each other. Old hands like Neil Best, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe and Bruce Reihana mix with young talents like Courtney Lawes, Ben Foden and John Clarke. Add in summer signings Phil Dowson and Shane Geraghty, and you can see why many pundits have tipped Saints for a top four finish this year. Geraghty in particular has been in searing form. They are captained by England hooker Dylan Hartley and play a fast, entertaining brand of rugby a far-cry from the days of Paul Grayson's boot (not that there was anything wrong with that). Three wins from four and a narrow defeat to Saracens see them third going into the weekend. Could the giant be lifting its eyelid(s) once again?


For Wasps, this Sunday's match is critical. It signals the end of the first segment of the Premiership campaign, with Europe taking over next week, and the difference between a win and a loss could be a lot more significant than four or five points. Win, and we have four victories out of five, which is a great start to the season in anybody's language. Lose and the gains from the first three weekends start to look less than spectacular. Make no mistake, this game against Northampton is a waymark for the season.


Wasps have a 14-9 win/loss ratio against Saints in the Premiership, and have never lost to the midlanders at Adams Park. Nevertheless, the threat from Northampton is considerable. There are interesting match-ups all over the park: Geraghty and Cipriani, Dickson and Simpson, Waldouck and Clarke, Webber and Hartley. The back-row battle shouldn't be anything less than ferocious, a game within itself. It's a mouth-watering prospect, and no less important in its way than any of those meetings mentioned above.


With both clubs in a similar position in the league table, any prediction is hard to make (I seem to say that every week). Will Saints' failure to win at Adams Park thus far be a motivation or a mental hurdle? Have Wasps learnt their lesson about protecting the ball, or will Northampton expose this area as Irish did? Is Geraghty's form a flash in the pan? Will Cips rise to the occasion? Throw all these ingredients into the prediction pot and a big fat question mark is all you get back – so I'll take a wild punt and put my money on a Wasps victory. Metaphorically, of course.



KEY MEN


Saints – Shane Geraghty. If he continues the form he's shown so far he'll expose any weaknesses in the Wasps midfield. Watch out for a range of clever kicks calculated to unlock the rush defence.


Wasps – Joe Simpson. Outplayed by Hodgson last weekend, Simpson needs to hit top form again, keep the dangerous Northampton back row interested and give the rest of the backs an extra yard to work in.

Wasps: 15 Danny Cipriani; 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Ben Jacobs, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Tom Varndell; 10 Dave Walder, 9 Joe Simpson; 1 Gabriel Bocca, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Phil Vickery (capt.), 4 George Skivington, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Serge Betsen, 8 John Hart

Bench: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Ben Broster, 19 Dan Leo, 20 Will Matthews, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Eoghan Hickey
23 Lachlan Mitchell

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden; 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Chris Mayor, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana; 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson; 1 Regardt Dreyer, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt.), 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Juandre Kruger, 6 Phil Dowson, 7 Mark Easter, 8 Roger Wilson

Bench: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Soane Tonga’uiha, 18 Santiago Bonorino, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Neil Best, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Joe Ansbro

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