By Chris Chaplin
December 24 2002

With the Powergen Cup out of the way for a week or so it's time to put down the mince pies, take a refreshing draft and think about Friday's encounter with the Wyombe nomads.

As one of the hot favourites for honours at the top of the Premiership this season the contest at Adams Park is key to Tigers getting some clear water from the middle order and with Saints my bet to undo a Glaws side being somewhat slovenly at present, the gap could reduce between the Kinsgholm mob and the chasing pack but Tigers must win on Friday to take advantage of any slip by the leaders.

I watched Wasps and Bath on Saturday and even given the horrible day and the presence of the ever ridiculous posturing Ashley Rowden, who was so preoccupied with the minutia of technical indiscretion that he missed blatant infringements by both sides, watching was a poor way to spend a couple of hours.

The final score was just about representative of what went on, although the way it occurred was not. Bath were not very good but Wasps were just a bit worse.

The Wasps scrum had the best of it all afternoon and in the scrummaging department they gave Bath a torrid time, with Green playing well and Leota as forceful as ever in both tight and loose situations, it only remained for Craig Dowd to go through his repertoire and show just why he is the most capped All Black prop. This front row is a match for any on it's day.

However the locks had a very bad day at the office and with Borthwick and Grewcock having a beanfeast at the lineouts Shaw and Birkett looked very ordinary indeed and frankly the Wasps lineout was terrible mess. I've seen Shaw before this season, on a few occasions, and this was by far the worst I have seen him play. Dallagio continues to be out of sorts and out of position. He lacks that old fire somehow and looks almost despondent. Volley and Scrivener, to my mind, are decent enough players but they looked off the pace as well. So in spite of the hard work and dominance of their front row the pack didn't produce enough high quality ball. Although they did extract a penalty try from a very poor Bath pack.

There are two Wasps' sides, the one that fires with Howley playing and the one that stutters and misfires without him. Once Howley made his appearance the leaden ball produced by the Wasps pack suddenly became threaded with gold. Howley is a wonderful player, even when not fully fit, a video of his play should be compulsory viewing for all coaches. The Wasps half-backs had earlier looked poorly drilled in defence as a missed tackle by Wood let Balshaw in for his try in the first half and the re-jigged Bath back line exploited poor positional play by King which left Volley too much to do to stop replacement Aussie Malone score their second try. The centre partnership of Fraser-Waters, who I like a lot, and the intelligent Stuart Abbott, who I like even more, were flat in every sense of the word and the it was not until vanGisbergen joined the fray that the Wasps backs began to look even remotely likely to score, save for one earlier break by Roiser.

Lewsey looked to be as capable as ever of showing his class, but never quite managed it and Logan was, well perhaps not having one of his best days. Strange player is Kenny Logan, can be good but can be awful, rarely is there any middle ground.

It was a poor showing from a side packed with talent but they are so unpredictable that it's hard to know which side will turn out next Friday.

It is to be hoped that Tigers can continue their mini winning run when they travel south and while it is obviously a happy circumstance that sees us on a winning run following the inconvenience of November 30, it is necessary to put it into perspective insofar as we have beaten a lowly ranked French team and a National One side, true in the case of the latter the Tigers had a mixed look of experience and youth about it and it's also true that any side can only play the opposition that turns up on the day, but the Wasps game, away from home, is the first real examination in the most testing of arenas against their peers.

Doubtless Tigers will field a full strength side on the 27th., including, hopefully, Backy and/or Josh. If Saturday's display at Adams Park is anything to go by, the front rows will be pretty well matched with all three of the Wasps more than capable of giving any of our front row combinations a run for their money. In the second row, on current form, Johnno and BK should have a productive day and lineouts could be a very happy hunting ground, especially if Corry recovers from his injury. A back row of Back/Josh/Corry will, I think, with Worsely still injured, be able to gain the edge over the Wasps combination and give the Wasps' half backs plenty to think about.

At 9 it will of course depend whether Howley plays or not. If he does the only scrum half that we have who could match him at his best is Oz, I think Tom, Harry or Jamie could find themselves on the receiving end of a masterclass if he gets anything like reasonable ball from his pack. If Wood starts, capable player that he is, he's no Howley and any of our candidates should be able to give a good account of themselves.

At fly half King doesn't look quite himself at present and off his best and that could be just enough, if vanGisbergen gets the nod we could see a more dynamic style of playmaking, he looks a very useful player indeed. Oz will probably start at 10 (I know, I know, don't start again Chris) and to be fair if he is getting some form back he should be able to get ball and time - what else does a #10 need? Rod will presumably reclaim his jersey from Gelderbloom (how nice to see him get 80 minutes on Saturday - about time I say!) and partner Ollie, our embryonic England centre. Wings? Well Geordan and Fred obviously, who should run rings round Logan and Roiser if last Saturday is any indicator.

Lewsey is an ever present danger but with Stimmo at 15, even if the talented Wasp does breach the first and second lines of defence, I would back our boy to get him.

Stimmo MUST play on Friday, for if Wasps give away as many penalties as they have throughout this season, really through rank indiscipline, we could earn 20 points from our favourite son's golden boot (oh and ditto Tigers and King by the way)

So although I shall be enroute to deepest Cambridgeshire on Friday I shall be able to get Radio Leicester for most of the journey and I shall have the VCR running back at the mansions and I reckon I'm going to hear a dogged game but a Tigers win at the end of it.