By Sparkie
December 20 2002

Wasps v. Bath in the sixth round of the cup. In days gone by this would be an eagerly anticipated clash between two old foes. But ever since the cup was "neutered" to allow only four non-premiership teams through and it was shunted further back in the calendar it has almost become an annoyance. Kick off is at 2.45pm on Saturday 21 Dec. and the match is live on BBC. Arrive early to avoid an "Aston Villa" moment.

Wasps go into this fixture almost at full strength. However, Worzel has over-compensated in his desire to play football again and strained a calf muscle. With Mauler now ploughing a mighty furrow on-loan down at Castle Grim, the other AK, Andy Kershaw is back from his sabbatical at Sorries and he bolsters the bench. He will be alongside Rob Howley who is keeping his hamstring under wraps whilst Woody continues in his rich vein of form at scrum half.

Dome is well on the mend and should be back in the next week or two as well. He could do with some match time to keep his mind off Aurelie Rougerie who is (all too publicly) suing Greening and Wasps for loss of earnings following an accidental throttling in Clermont Ferrand. The rouge one is back on the bench for Montferrand this weekend whilst The Bishop, Damien Hopley of PRA, tries to bring some sanity to the judicial proceedings.

Three wins on the trot and home advantage should keep us on the front foot against a Bath team which is still struggling to come to terms with its lack of depth in the face of injuries. There is no team news from the Wreck yet which is par for their course. As Optimist writes on their messageboard: "yes - that process has already started - yesterday's Chron says that Perry is now fit to play, when a week ago he was out for 4 weeks. What's the betting we'll find out today that Balshaw is a doubt, Catt is a certainty, Lord Lucan is on the bench, Elvis is at number one and Shergar will be pulling the team bus." Another of the ERE faithful (see link below) reckons that they are looking to strengthen the squad at 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 and possibly 10! It's remarkable how times change...

Their front page hints that Pez, Trundle and Maggots will join a fit and much (over)hyped Balsup in their experienced backline. Time will tell. Cattie is back in rehab after having yet another of his lives surgically removed and ex-Exeter Chris Murphy is also injured so Olly Barkley is likely to start at pivot.

The key to winning lies in emulating our first half display in Bath in September. Let the pack take control and open up gaps for the backs to attack for the whole eighty minutes, please. Kicking possession away will hand the game back to Bath's speedsters who will look good given an expanse to run into. First-up tackling is also the order of the day -- don't let Balsup get up steam, wrap him up early and he'll knock-on time after time. As Bath are still plumbing the depths, we don't want to offer them even a scrap of confidence, so get the lineouts sorted lads.

Wasps: 15 Josh Lewsey; 14 Shane Roiser, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Stuart Abbott, 11 Kenny Logan; 10 Alex King, 9 Martyn Wood; 1 Craig Dowd, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Will Green, 4 Simon Shaw, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 Lawrence Dallaglio (Capt.), 7 Paul Volley, 8 Peter Scrivener

Bench: 16 Rob Howley, 17 Mark Van Gisbergen, 18 Ayoola Erinle, 19 Mark Lock, 20 Ben Gotting, 21 Andy Kershaw, 22 Joe Beardshaw.

Related links: ERE's Bath

Round Six Fixtures

Dec 21

Gloucester v Exeter
Orrell v Northampton
Harlequins v Leeds
Leicester v Worcester
Wasps v Bath

Dec 22

Newcastle v OIrish
Saracens v Sharks
Bristol v Rotherham

Emboldened teams tipped to go through.

Round Five Results

Roth 41 Birm/Sol 10
Halifax 12 Worcs 13
L Welsh 13 Exeter 36
Plymouth 3 Orrell 8