By Peter Snow's Swingometer
September 3 2005

London Wasps take on Saracens at "home" in the first round of the Guinness Premiership. As curtain raisers go, last season's London Double Header was a doubly damp squib. All four sides spilt sackloads of possession during their stuttering, opening gambits.  

True to form, London Wasps lost their first Premiership match last season by the staggeringly dull score of 13-11, but hit a rich vein of form when it mattered. The difference between the two teams was a mere missed goal, but Saracens, in beating the English champions for the first time in a dozen goes left the stadium as if they had won the Premiership. However, again true to form, they stumbled to their usual mid-season mediocrity before the Kafer-less Diamonds raised their bar to a European standard fifth.

London Irish and Harlequins also served up a can of worms, and they continued to trough for much of the remaining 21 rounds. Quins' throwing away of their first half of the season ultimately did for them. They finally fell from the Premiership stage in the 22nd and final act, having oft courted the fat lady in recent times.

However, that was last season's form. What about today, and the coming year? As Leicester Tigers found to their cost last May, it's about timing, and focus. Today's results count for little in the grand scheme of the Guinness Premiership.

So, while Sorries are unbeaten against Wasps at HQ, and Wasps overwhelmingly have the upper hand in league encounters (12-1?), the best barometer for this match is to take the short term view:

Wasps won all three of their pre-season games. Exeter's rumbustuous pack caused us no end of difficulty, showing why they chased Bristol so hard for promotion from National 1 last time round. Some of our pack's rust was still evident against Newbury a fortnight later, and Ospreys also managed to pose some questions up front early on, before lack of cohesion and some tight Wasps defence snuffed out the game.

So Wasps' strengths and weaknesses are there to be tested. Sarries' will target our front five, but if they don't secure more than 59% of the ball, they may have an uncomfortable afternoon against Wasps' back three (Sacks and TV have a wager on who will be top scorer come May).

Sarries' other main strength is their defence. Like Wasps they employ a RL coach. Mike Ford works them hard on offensive, first up tackling. Space will not be at a premium today.

Wasps rescued Paul Sackey from Irish before the season's close, and Quins' pair, Jeremy Staunton and Jon Dawson this summer. Two of the three appear in black today as Wasps take to the field with a team less familiar to the fair-weather punter than Saracens'.

Let's do a double take on that last sentence: Saracens have the more settled team. The penny started to drop midway through last season. It's been buried deep in the turf at long last.

However, will it be enough to take them through to a top four, play-off berth? Sarries are hungry enough to keep the likes of Bath, Gloucester and dare one say it, Leicester(?) behind them.

While they draw on their historic 48-18 cup final win over us, orchestrated by stand-off maestro, Michael Lynagh, Wasps will look to the foundations we laid before Warren Gatland took the reins. Alex King touched upon the seeds of Wasps' success in his recent interview here. Gats left a couple of items for us to polish off:

1. Beat Leicester at Welford Road in the Premiership.

2. Wipe out Sarries' two-match winning "streak" against us at HQ (we've beaten every other team we've played here in the fifteen man code).

The old swingometer says: Wasps by nine in the Beeblebrox.

London Wasps: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen; 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Ayoola Erinle, 12 Stuart Abbott, 11 Tom Voyce; 10 Alex King, 9 Eoin Reddan; 1 Tim Payne, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Peter Bracken, 4 Martin Purdy, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 John Hart (Capt.), 7 Jonny O’Connor, 8 Joe Worsley

Bench: 16 Ben Gotting, 17 Jon Dawson, 18 Mark Lock, 19 Tom Rees, 20 Matt Dawson, 21 James Brooks, 22 Fraser Waters

Saracens: 15 Thomas Castaignède; 14 Richard Haughton, 13 Ben Johnston, 12 Kevin Sorrell, 11 Dan Scarbrough; 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Alan Dickens; 1 Kevin Yates, 2 Matt Cairns, 3 Cobus Visagie, 4 Hugh Vyvyan (Capt.), 5 Kris Chesney, 6 Ben T Russell, 7 David Seymour, 8 Ben Skirving

Bench: 16 Shane Byrne, 17 Nick Lloyd, 18 Iain Fullarton, 19 Alex Sanderson, 20 Moses Rauluni, 21 Ben J Russell, 22 Dan Harris