By Chris Wearmouth
February 18 2005

After a week of Six Nations rugby (in the loosest sense of the word), welcome back to the league everyone! And what a wonderful prospect it is, our international boys coming back into the side to visit London Wasps’ Causeway Stadium in High Wycombe. A place, I hasten to add, where we have a 100% record.

Enough of the pessimism and sarcasm, for the time being at least.

You would want an easier return to Premiership than a 
visit to Wasps. Without being prejudiced or jealous of
their recent achievements, I’ve never liked Wasps.
They are a club without a home, and when at Loftus
Road, a soul. Yet they have been inspired by Lawrence
Dallaglio and Warren Gatland to win back-to-back
Premierships and the 2003 Heineken Cup. They currently
lie in third, a mere 22 points ahead of the Saints,
although they have slumped somewhat recently.

They have also been a bogey side for us recently, and
seem to be on a permanent revenge trip ever since we
knocked them out of Europe in 2000. Consequently, the
following band of Saints brothers have one of the
hardest away trips facing them when trying to put the
disappointment of the Saracens defeat behind them.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

15 BRUCE REIHANA
14 Paul Diggin
13 Neil Starling
12 Marc Stcherbina
11 BEN COHEN
10 Shane Drahm
9 Johnny Howard
1 TOM SMITH
2 STEVE THOMPSON (capt)
3 Simon Emms
4 Matt Lord
5 SELBORNE BOOME
6 Darren Fox
7 CORNE KRIGE
8 ANDREW BLOWERS

Replacements 
16 Dan Richmond
17 ROBBIE MORRIS
18 Damien Browne
19 ROSS BEATTIE
20 Billy Fulton
21 PAUL GRAYSON
22 John Rudd

Common consensus is that it is the strongest line-up
Budge Pountney could field, although the absence of
Wylie Human from the squad is a bit of a mystery.
Digging and Starling retain their place in the
starting 15, a good sign that faith is being placed in
the academy. Stcherbina makes a welcome return after
missing the last two league games with a calf-strain,
and Cohen, Smith and Wally from international duty.
Beattie has also recovered from his head injury to
take a place on the bench – unluckily for Mark Soden –
and will sit alongside Fulton, who will be looking to
make his full debut after playing the second half in
the Wanderers’ match on Monday. Evidence then would
suggest a sweet pass and it will be interesting to see
how Howard reacts to the pressure.

Matches against Wasps have traditionally either been a
narrow win for the Saints or a demolition job by
Wasps. That of course was turned on its head back in
October when Wasps sneaked a try early in the second
half before buttoning down the hatches to secure the
victory.

So who will the Saintsmen have to overcome? Here is
the Wasps side as named on Thursday.

LONDON WASPS

15 Mark van Gisbergen
14 Paul Sackey
13 Josh Lewsey
12 Ayoola Erinle
11 Tom Voyce
10 Alex King
9 Matt Dawson
1 Tim Payne
2 Trevor Leota
3 Craig Dowd
4 Simon Shaw
5 Martin Purdy
6 Joe Worsley
7 Jonny O’Connor
8 Lawrence Dallaglio (capt)

Replacements:
16 Phil Greening
17 Will Green
18 John Hart
19 Richard Birkett
20 Peter Richards
21 James Brooks
22 Rob Hoadley

The selection of Sackey means that Lewsey makes his
second start of the year at centre. It also means that
Wasps will field one of the most potent back fours
we’ll have seen this year. The back row remains as
powerful as ever. Worsley may not be on top form at
the moment, but always seems to do damage to us. Who
can forget the 2000 Heineken Cup quarterfinal?

I’m looking forward to the match-up between Digger and
Voyce. Digger acquitted himself brilliantly against
Jason Robinson but will have to do just as well to
nullify one of the Premiership’s most exiting runners.
Starling versus Lewsey in the centre also catches the
eye.

It has been difficult to know what to make of this
year’s Wasps. I’ve been to the Causeway a few times
this season and their play has varied between the
awesome to the merely above-average. But their recent
form has been as patchy as Saints’. They needed extra
time to beat Bristol in the Powergen Cup (before being
disqualified on a technicality) and went down to
Biarritz in the Heineken Cup, a competition they are
also out of. They’ve also been beaten in their last
two league matches, at home to Bath and away to
Newcastle respectively.

This has been compounded by Warren Gatland’s
resignation as Wasps director of rugby from the end of
the season. Whether he’s seen some writing on the wall
somewhere that his side are on the verge of a downward
slide I don’t know, but you can be sure that Lawrence
and the boys will be wanting to send him off with a
trophy.

All this makes Sunday’s fixture intriguing. It goes
without saying that it’s a must-win for Saints, but
Wasps will also be looking to stay in touch with
Leicester and Sale.

My own gut feeling is that Wasps will nick it, but
Saints will stay in touch throughout and will grab a
bonus point.

But I hope I’m wrong. 

One final thing: if you’re going on Sunday and have
never been to Wycombe before, here are a couple of
handy hints. Get there early and take lots of cash.
You’ll see why…