By Mark H
April 16 2004

A journey to the industrial estate at the end of the universe and it's Wasps on Sunday, with just four games to go. Or five. Or better still, six. With the international season finally out of the way after seven months, hopefully both teams will be back to full strength on Sunday. Actually, that's a lie. I'm hoping Warren Gatland will imagine that we're really the Pertemps Bees and play the side that he did on the fateful day that they got knocked out of the cup at home by the part-timers, but I really can't see it.

To start the preview, a conundrum. If Wasps win, then Saints will be playing for third place alongside Gloucester, but it then increases the chances that the champions will finish top of the pile and relegate our friends in the south west to the play-off. If Saints win, then it almost certainly makes first place out of reach for Wasps and will mean a trip to High Wycombe for the third placed side, however well Gatland's men perform for the rest of the season. So do we want to play a Wasps team potentially on the up, or a Bath side on a relative slide in any play-off that may occur. To be quite honest, I still don't have an answer to that question, but I am hoping (genuinely) that both sides get to their respective European
finals to put an extra game in to focus on between the play-off and the championship final. As we have both sides in the next two games, perhaps we'd better concentrate on beating both, guaranteeing our spot in the play-off, and getting a psychological edge.

So will the gap be down to four points or less on Sunday, or up to ten points or more? A hell of a lot will depend on how the teams react to both the breaks that they've had, and the re-introduction of their
internationals. Saints were efficient against a poor Sarries team on Saturday, without ever reaching top gear, whilst Wasps disposed (like so many before this season) of Rotherham with a try bonus point at the Causeway. Two of the top three outplaying the bottom two, both as expected, so not much to learn from that.

With potentially Dallaglio, Lewsey, Worsley, Dawson, Thompson, Cohen and Grayson all to be added to the twenty twos for the game, then both sides are bringing their heavy artillery out. Looking at it another way though, have either side really missed their internationals? Two and three in the league, with Saintly defeats to Gloucester and Newcastle post-World Cup, and abject performances against Bath (wrong gameplan), Irish (too many players sleeping) and Quins (battered by a fluent side) during the World Cup, tend to tell the tale that no, in a lot of respects the internationals wouldn't have turned the defeats in victories. Indeed, with Saints only having lost to Llanelli in 9 games since the turn of the year (forget the friendly), and Wasps having only suffered at the hands of the Celtic Warriors and the Bees, both in cup competitions, you could say that both teams are running into form at the right time of the season.

How Sky thought that the better match to cover would be Sarries versus Gloucester I don't know. Still, it's their loss. In boxing terms, this is a clash of the heavyweights. We have a man who can float like a butterfly in Bruce Reihana. Hopefully Bruce and the rest of the team can sting like the Bees.

With their star players apparently taking reduced terms to continue playing for the club, Wasps are definitely looking for a spell of domination of English rugby - and who can blame them, we'd all like to dominate the game. With a tricky, but eminently winnable Heineken quarter-final against Gloucester only a week away, they stand three wins away from being the first side to win both European competitions - an achievement in itself, but to do it in back to back seasons, hardly credible.

But that is for the future. A Wasps win, coupled with another unlikely Gloucester defeat on Saturday, would see Gatland's men guarantee themselves European Cup rugby next season. Their team is:-

15 Mark Van Gisbergen
14 Josh Lewsey
13 Fraser Waters
12 Stuart Abbott
11 Tom Voyce
10 Alex King
9 Rob Howley
1 Craig Dowd
2 Trevor Leota
3 Will Green
4 Simon Shaw
5 Richard Birkett
6 Joe Worsley
7 Paul Volley
8 Lawrence Dallaglio (Capt)

16 Tim Payne
17 Mark Lock
18 Ben Gotting
19 Martin Purdy
20 Harvey Biljon
21 Mark Denney
22 John Rudd

My first thought, as I’m sure everyone else’s was, was “My god, they’ve brought out the heavy mob”. It’s both a great sign of respect, and an indication of their intention to go directly to Twickenham. We know their players, we’ve seen them often enough on the international stage. We know what they can do. They have try scorers in virtually every position on the field. They have two more than competent goal kickers. They have pace. They have bulk.

Is it worth us going?

Well, yes actually. This is the defining game of the season for Saints. On the two previous trips to the Causeway, or Adams Park, or whatever you prefer to call it, we’ve been beaten 16-9 and 19-10. Three tries between the sides in two games. Even the trips to Loftus Road were never that fruitful, with the exception of the Christmas game in 1999 where the Saints defence held out on the tryline for what seemed like hours to snatch a 21-15 victory. It’s going to be tight, all games between the top sides are.

To win the championship this season though, Saints will have to beat Wasps in May. What better way to prepare for that than to beat Wasps in April? (although if I had a choice, I’d rather beat them in May) To that extent, Smithy and Rats announced the following side on Thursday:-

15 Bruce Reihana
14 Nick Beal
13 Chris Hyndman
12 John Leslie (c)
11 Oriol Ripol
10 Shane Drahm
9 Mark Robinson
1 Tom Smith
2 Dan Richmond
3 Tevita Taumoepeau
4 Matt Lord
5 Mark Connors
6 Andrew Blowers
7 Darren Fox
8 Mark Soden

16 Steve Thompson
17 Robbie Morris/Chris Budgen
18 Steve Williams
19 Grant Seely
20 Matt Dawson
21 James Brooks
22 John Clarke

So Daws and Wally go onto the bench, with Ben and Larry being unavailable due to injury; last week’s bench props start; and Bealer returns to the wing in place of broken hand victim Mark Tucker. It’s good, but will it be good enough?

So what have we got to look forward to? My honest feeling is that the higher scoring the game, the more chance for Saints. They are beatable. I just have doubts that the oracle can be worked this Sunday, so I’ll take Wasps by seven - but hope that I’m wrong.





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