Aviva Premiership - Round 20 Preview

Just 3 rounds to go and, Gloucester aside, clubs are nor concentrating only on this.

Positions:

Saints 67pts
Saracens 61pts
-------------------------------------
Bath 61pts
Exeter 58pts
====================
Leicester 55pts
Wasps 53pts
++++++++++++++++++++
Sale 48pts
***************************
Quins 43pts
Gloucester 38pts
Irish 37pts
Falcons 26pts
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Welsh 1 point



Fixtures:


Fri 24th Apr 15

19:45 Bath   v   London Irish BT Sport
Bath host their feeder club in the opening fixture of Round 20. On paper they have the easiest run-in of the top clubs, but their set piece will have to perform better than it did in Newcastle and Dublin if they are to cash in fully. Irish have little to play for other than pride and their form has been hot and miss. Bath should have the form and the class to win at a canter. An upset may be too much to ask for, but the other teams vying for a home play-off semi will hope Irish can defend stoutly and deny Bath a TBP.



Sat 25th Apr 15

14:00 Sale Sharks v   Harlequins
Not the sort of fixture that a stuttering Quins team will be relishing. If they are to have any realistic chance of making the Champions Cup (via play-off) they simply have to win this match. The last thing quins needed was to be struggling with injuries. they will need every ounce of effort and inspiration they can get from Robshaw and Care to stand any chance.

15:00 Gloucester  v   Newcastle Falcons
Gloucester will be focussing on next week, Falcons on next season. For any at the game I hope this means they have an entertaining one.

15:00 Leicester      v   London Welsh
Leicester struggled to get the four tries at the Kassam earlier. Surely they will find it easier at home?

15:15 Northampton v   Saracens BT Sport
Huge, possibly season defining, fixture. Saints looked nailed on for top spot in the table when the 6 nations ended. after two thumpings, confidence will not be high and defeat to the team they beat in last years final will suddenly have them worrying about facing an away semi. Mallinder and Doreen gave the guys a week off and will hope the batteries have been recharged. Biggest worry for Saints has been the poor form of their biggest names. Corbisiero and Hartley are struggling, while Manoa has been off colour. Throw in misfiring half backs and centres and it has been a struggle. The last team they would wish to face in this state are Sarries - who will be buoyed by this fixture being at a "neutral" venue. Performance wise Sarries have been a shadow of their Barnet selves away from home, but in general have found a way to win. Unless Saints can rerun to something approximating to their early season form the Sarries juggernaut should prevail.


Sun 26th Apr 15

14:00 Wasps  v   Exeter BT Sport

With consecutive home matches against the two teams directly above them, Wasps are still masters of their own destiny. Win both and Wasps could find themselves back in the Top 4. Exeter need to put any Challenge Cup disappointment firmly behind them. With two tricky away fixtures in a row (Sarries next week) they could find themselves dropping from 4th to 6th before the final round. Both sides like to throw the ball around, so this has all the makings of a classic. Probably instead we will get a nervy penalties only game.

This is one of the toughest weeks to call. You could only confidently say that Bath and Tigers will win, all other games could go either way. I'm expecting Glaws to rest a few players. This game is a dead rubber and we mustn't jeopardise the cup final over what is now a meaningless game.

We need a win and at Welford Rd they'll be a lynching if we don't get the TBP as well. Might be a good opportunity to get a couple of players fresh off the treatment and out on to the pitch as well.

I don't think Quins will win, sadly, at the moment the seasons pretty much over so a good performance would be nice.

LondonTiger wrote:15:15 Northampton v   Saracens BT Sport
Huge, possibly season defining, fixture. Saints looked nailed on for top spot in the table when the 6 nations ended. after two thumpings, confidence will not be high and defeat to the team they beat in last years final will suddenly have them worrying about facing an away semi. Mallinder and Doreen gave the guys a week off and will hope the batteries have been recharged. Biggest worry for Saints has been the poor form of their biggest names. Corbisiero and Hartley are struggling, while Manoa has been off colour. Throw in misfiring half backs and centres and it has been a struggle. The last team they would wish to face in this state are Sarries - who will be buoyed by this fixture being at a "neutral" venue. Performance wise Sarries have been a shadow of their Barnet selves away from home, but in general have found a way to win. Unless Saints can rerun to something approximating to their early season form the Sarries juggernaut should prevail..

I am very concerned about Saints.  They have all the earmarks of a tired team, just hanging on.  Yes, it seems bizarre to say a top team is shot, but they blew their energy in the first half of the season and have not been right since their blow-outs over Treviso.  So their drop in form is not recent.  This is a clear example of players being over worked and having nothing left.  The exact reason Burrell did not perform for England in the 6 Nations as he had last season.  They also lack the depth to replace Ben Foden and George North, with loosely similar quality, for example.

The match against Sarries is very intriguing and I can see this going in a number of ways.  Sarries appear to have better depth, which I think is the deciding factor, and also probably makes them the favourites to with the Premiership (Saints are now the underdog!!!).  But Saracens have had tough physical matches in the last few weeks and that always has a cost.  For Saints to win, it will have to be close.  They will need to ave their attacking offloading game ripping.  In general, set the tone and pace.  Hopefully the week off helps, though usually one week has little impact.

Surely we can scrape a bloody win over a Gloucester side who have their eyes on next week!!!!

GeordieFalcon wrote:Surely we can scrape a bloody win over a Gloucester side who have their eyes on next week!!!!

You'd think so wouldn't you. I don't expect this will be good match at all. One for the purists probably.

Jimpy wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Surely we can scrape a bloody win over a Gloucester side who have their eyes on next week!!!!

You'd think so wouldn't you. I don't expect this will be good match at all. One for the purists probably.

I'm hoping the fact we're unbeaten at home this calendar year will be the incentive we need to win the game. I do feel it will be an enjoyable match although perhaps not one of high quality and I expect a good number of points to be scored by both sides.

Bath Rugby team to face London Irish

15 Anthony Watson
14 Semesa Rokoduguni
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Matt Banahan
10 George Ford
9 Peter Stringer

1 Paul James
2 Rob Webber
3 Kane Palma-Newport
4 Stuart Hooper (c)
5 Dominic Day
6 Sam Burgess
7 Francois Louw
8 Leroy Houston

Replacements

16 Ross Batty
17 Nick Auterac
18 Max Lahiff
19 Dave Attwood
20 Matt Garvey
21 Carl Fearns
22 Chris Cook
23 Ollie Devoto


Bath going with a 6/2 bench and start burgess at 6 again.

London Irish team to play Bath:

15. Andrew Fenby; 14. Topsy Ojo*; 13. Eoin Griffin; 12. Fergus Mulchrone; 11. Alex Lewington; 10. Chris Noakes; 9. Darren Allinson; 1. Tom Court*; 2. David Paice*; 3. Richard Palframan; 4. George Skivington (Captain); 5. Jebb Sinclair*; 6. Luke Narraway*; 7. Blair Cowan*; 8. Tom Guest

Replacements: 16. Gerard Ellis; 17. Jamie Hagan*; 18. Halani Aulika*; 19. Dan Leo*; 20. Sean Cox; 21. Tomás O'Leary*; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Eamonn Sheridan

doctor_grey wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:15:15 Northampton v   Saracens BT Sport
Huge, possibly season defining, fixture. Saints looked nailed on for top spot in the table when the 6 nations ended. after two thumpings, confidence will not be high and defeat to the team they beat in last years final will suddenly have them worrying about facing an away semi. Mallinder and Doreen gave the guys a week off and will hope the batteries have been recharged. Biggest worry for Saints has been the poor form of their biggest names. Corbisiero and Hartley are struggling, while Manoa has been off colour. Throw in misfiring half backs and centres and it has been a struggle. The last team they would wish to face in this state are Sarries - who will be buoyed by this fixture being at a "neutral" venue. Performance wise Sarries have been a shadow of their Barnet selves away from home, but in general have found a way to win. Unless Saints can rerun to something approximating to their early season form the Sarries juggernaut should prevail..

I am very concerned about Saints.  They have all the earmarks of a tired team, just hanging on.  Yes, it seems bizarre to say a top team is shot, but they blew their energy in the first half of the season and have not been right since their blow-outs over Treviso.  So their drop in form is not recent.  This is a clear example of players being over worked and having nothing left.  The exact reason Burrell did not perform for England in the 6 Nations as he had last season.  They also lack the depth to replace Ben Foden and George North, with loosely similar quality, for example.  

The match against Sarries is very intriguing and I can see this going in a number of ways.  Sarries appear to have better depth, which I think is the deciding factor, and also probably makes them the favourites to with the Premiership (Saints are now the underdog!!!).  But Saracens have had tough physical matches in the last few weeks and that always has a cost.  For Saints to win, it will have to be close.  They will need to ave their attacking offloading game ripping.  In general, set the tone and pace.  Hopefully the week off helps, though usually one week has little impact.

I don't know why every one is surprised, for the past 3 or 4 seasons Saints have always started strongly then faded by the end of the season. Last season they just managed to drag themselves over the finish line, but they haven't done anything to change the problem so why should this season be different?

Interestingly Devoto's reward for being MOM against Newcastle is relegation to the bench. The curse of versatility. I'm hoping for a win and no injuries from this one.

yappysnap wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:15:15 Northampton v   Saracens BT Sport
Huge, possibly season defining, fixture. Saints looked nailed on for top spot in the table when the 6 nations ended. after two thumpings, confidence will not be high and defeat to the team they beat in last years final will suddenly have them worrying about facing an away semi. Mallinder and Doreen gave the guys a week off and will hope the batteries have been recharged. Biggest worry for Saints has been the poor form of their biggest names. Corbisiero and Hartley are struggling, while Manoa has been off colour. Throw in misfiring half backs and centres and it has been a struggle. The last team they would wish to face in this state are Sarries - who will be buoyed by this fixture being at a "neutral" venue. Performance wise Sarries have been a shadow of their Barnet selves away from home, but in general have found a way to win. Unless Saints can rerun to something approximating to their early season form the Sarries juggernaut should prevail..

I am very concerned about Saints.  They have all the earmarks of a tired team, just hanging on.  Yes, it seems bizarre to say a top team is shot, but they blew their energy in the first half of the season and have not been right since their blow-outs over Treviso.  So their drop in form is not recent.  This is a clear example of players being over worked and having nothing left.  The exact reason Burrell did not perform for England in the 6 Nations as he had last season.  They also lack the depth to replace Ben Foden and George North, with loosely similar quality, for example.  

The match against Sarries is very intriguing and I can see this going in a number of ways.  Sarries appear to have better depth, which I think is the deciding factor, and also probably makes them the favourites to with the Premiership (Saints are now the underdog!!!).  But Saracens have had tough physical matches in the last few weeks and that always has a cost.  For Saints to win, it will have to be close.  They will need to ave their attacking offloading game ripping.  In general, set the tone and pace.  Hopefully the week off helps, though usually one week has little impact.

I don't know why every one is surprised, for the past 3 or 4 seasons Saints have always started strongly then faded by the end of the season. Last season they just managed to drag themselves over the finish line, but they haven't done anything to change the problem so why should this season be different?

Not a surprise at all. Just that it happened earlier this year than in past years. And many players visibly look tired and/or are carrying injuries. The problem of a small squad. It's a shame.

Oops 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32446580

lostinwales wrote:Oops 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32446580

Makes Glaws 'dead rubber' against Falcons this weekend suddenly quite important doesn't it LOL.

lostinwales wrote:Oops 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32446580

If guilty, a fine and a point deduction of between 1 and 4 pts for every match affected.

Tigers Team:

Rizzo, Ghiraldini, Logo, Thorn, Kitch, Gibson, Salvi, Pearce; Youngs, Burns, Thompstone, Catchpole, Tait, Scully, Morris

Youngs, Brugnara, Balmain, Parling, Crane, Harrison, Bell, Bai

London Welsh: 15. Alan Awcock, 14. Rhys Crane, 13. Nic Reynolds, 12. James Lewis, 11. Chris Elder, 10. Olly Barkley*, 9. Rob Lewis, 1. Nathan Trevett, 2. Koree Britton, 3. Ben Cooper, 4. Ben West, 5. Matt Corker (C), 6. Ben Pienaar, 7. Darren Waters, 8. Chris Hala’ufia*.

Replacements: 16. Nathan Morris, 17. Eddie Aholelei*, 18. Jack Gilding, 19. Josh McNally, 20. Opeti Fonua*, 21. Richard Thorpe*, 22. Paul Rowley, 23. Will Robinson.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY SARACENS
Aviva Premiership Round 20
stadiummk
Saturday, April 25th, 2015
Kick off 3:15pm
15 Ahsee TUALA
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Luther BURRELL
11 Jamie ELLIOTT
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Kahn FOTUALI’I
1 Alex CORBISIERO
2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt)
3 Salesi MA’AFU
4 Courtney LAWES
5 Christian DAY
6 Tom WOOD
7 Calum CLARK
8 Samu MANOA

16 Mike HAYWOOD
17 Alex WALLER
18 Gareth DENMAN
19 Sam DICKINSON
20 Jon FISHER
21 Lee DICKSON
22 Tom STEPHENSON
23 James WILSON

Saracens vs Northampton Saints
15 Alex Goode; 14 David Strettle, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt ©, 11 Chris Wyles; 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 James Johnston, 4 George Kruis, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Ernst Joubert, 7 Kelly Brown, 8 Billy Vunipola.
16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill 18 Kieran Longbottom, 19 Jim Hamilton 20 Jackson Wray 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Owen Farrell 23 Chris Ashton.

Gloucester Rugby:
Charlie Sharples; Jonny May, Brendan Macken, Billy Twelvetrees (capt), Henry Purdy; Billy Burns, Dan Robson; Yann Thomas, Darren Dawidiuk, Sila Puafisi; Elliott Stooke, Mariano Galarza; Ross Moriarty, Matt Kvesic, Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements:
Richard Hibbard, Dan Murphy, John Afoa, Tom Savage, Gareth Evans, Greig Laidlaw, James Hook, Bill Meakes

Newcastle Falcons vs Gloucester Rugby

15. Simon Hammersley, 14. Alex Tait, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Juan Pablo Socino, 11. Sinoti Sinoti, 10. Rory Clegg, 9. Ruki Tipuna;

Rob Vickers, 2. Scott Lawson, 3. Kieran Brookes, 4. Josh Furno, 5. Kane Thompson, 6. Mark Wilson, 7. Will Welch (c), 8. Ally Hogg.
Replacements: 16. George McGuigan, 17. Eric Fry, 18. Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19. Will Witty, 20. Sean Robinson, 21. Sonatane Takulua, 22. Andy Tuilagi, 23. Adam Powell.

http://www.saracens.com/saracens-name-team-to-face-northampton-2/

Saracens vs Northampton Saints

15 Alex Goode; 14 David Strettle, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt ©, 11 Chris Wyles; 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Schalk Brits, 3 James Johnston, 4 George Kruis, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Ernst Joubert, 7 Kelly Brown, 8 Billy Vunipola.

16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill 18 Kieran Longbottom, 19 Jim Hamilton 20 Jackson Wray 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Owen Farrell 23 Chris Ashton.


Oddest selection is Ashton on the bench. Ernst Joubert is there to strengthen the lineout.

Ashton on bench no odder than Strettle on the bench last week. Joubert at 6 seems a crazy decision to me as is he really all that at the lineout. Looks like the management do not fully trust Wray in big games, which is a shame.

Gloucs must obviously feel that they have a case if they are still selecting Galarza. Does seem odd that (despite the injury problems) he has been with them for a while and something like this comes up.

They probably had not filed the correct papers, as he joined injured thgey would not register him till ready to play. They will now have filed the correct papers - so his inclusion this week really has no bearing on the charge levied against them.

Londontiger well Joubert used to be a prominent line out jumper for Saracens though he's struggled to stay relevant as his form has not as been as strong.

https://rpbetting.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/aviva-premiership-review-stats/

This was 3 seasons ago - Joubert -5th on lineouts won on own throw.

Saracens had a very strong lineout when they had Borthwick and Joubert at 8 but with the retirement of Borthwick the lineout has not been as strong.

The lineout has not been as it's best in recent weeks for whatever reason.

May improve now Brits is back?

no 7 & 1/2 going by Brits not so impressive lineout throwing from the bench I am not convinced....

Unfortunately the likes of Brits and Joubert don't seem to be the players they were two or three seasons ago.

Thought I would add the saints team:


NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY SARACENS
Aviva Premiership Round 20
stadiummk
Saturday, April 25th, 2015
Kick off 3:15pm
15 Ahsee TUALA
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Luther BURRELL
11 Jamie ELLIOTT
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Kahn FOTUALI’I
1 Alex CORBISIERO
2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt)
3 Salesi MA’AFU
4 Courtney LAWES
5 Christian DAY
6 Tom WOOD
7 Calum CLARK
8 Samu MANOA

16 Mike HAYWOOD
17 Alex WALLER
18 Gareth DENMAN
19 Sam DICKINSON
20 Jon FISHER
21 Lee DICKSON
22 Tom STEPHENSON
23 James WILSON

LondonTiger wrote:Tigers Team:

Rizzo, Ghiraldini, Logo, Thorn, Kitch, Gibson, Salvi, Pearce; Youngs, Burns, Thompstone, Catchpole, Tait, Scully, Morris

Youngs, Brugnara, Balmain, Parling, Crane, Harrison, Bell, Bai

Okay who could have predicted that!

Great to see Catchpole and Pearce start.

Also Tait @ 13

Really excited to see this team play.

LondonTiger wrote:Tigers Team:

Rizzo, Ghiraldini, Logo, Thorn, Kitch, Gibson, Salvi, Pearce; Youngs, Burns, Thompstone, Catchpole, Tait, Scully, Morris

Youngs, Brugnara, Balmain, Parling, Crane, Harrison, Bell, Bai

Unless this is the backline Cockers wants to use for the season run in (which seems unlikely) then it's a bit of a mistake for me. Under normal circumstances it's probably the best choice for picking up 5 points but what the team need more than anything IMO is continuity. I really think it's time to pick a centre partnership and stick with it, whether that's Bai/Loamanu, Bai/Smith or whatever, LW was an ideal time to give them a chance to play together.

What is going in with our centres? Tait hasn't played 13 for years and Catchpole has featured at 13 whenever selected. Leaves Burns short of any real physical impact from the midfield. Plenty if pace though.

Anyone see last nights game? How come it was such a "game of two halves"?

First half we scrapped for everything LT. Bath always looked more dangerous but our guys dug in and went in at the break 13-12 up having stopped Bath from crossing the whitewash. General consensus amongst the btsport panel was that we also should have a had a penalty try from a scrum, which would have been a 20-12 lead at the break.

The 20 minutes after half time they simply blew us away. They went up a gear and their running and offloading game clicked and we just couldn't cope. If they play like they did in the second half they will be tough to stop in the play offs.

I though LI were a bit hard done by in the set piece. Webber stood up under any pressure and for the Houston try the Bath tight head was clearly boring in. That said Bath really turned up in the second half and looked a lot more physical with Hooper off the pitch.

Missed the game last night, BBC being hyperbolic about Burgess. Was it deserved? I see that he won a MOTM, usually quite difficult to be noticed at blind-side.

Burgess put in a decent shift, as did all of the Bath back row and it could easily have gone to any of them or Ford/Banahan. Wouldn't say he did anything deserving of hyperbole, but he definitely looked much more comfortable as a forward and was worth his place in the team.

As much as they bang on about his leadership, I do think Hooper is a very poor lock, he never adds anything to the front 5.

Irish can feel a little hard done by at that scrum, fair enough if the red thought both packs were standing up, reset it, but he then penalised Irish later in the game for the exact same thing!

Over all a good win for Bath, but against the top teams they'll need to play better for longer

fkas I think that's a fair assessment. Ultimately over 80 minutes they were the better side and deserved the win. Had we got the rub of the green in the set piece we may have bagged a LBP, but they were good value for their win.

Watson was very good, his chase back for the intercept showed amazing pace, as were Eastmond and later on Joseph. Good for England

Watson had a decent game, but he was chasing Noakes there. Hard to judge whether it was amazing pace or just decent winger pace. Noakes should ideally have chipped ahead and hoped for a bit of luck with the bouncing ball

Watson was rapid MW. Yes he was chasing Noakes, but so were Bananaman and Topsy, neither of whom looked like getting there, and Watson gave them both a good 20 yard start with the angle he was coming from and went past them with plenty of yards to spare before the tryline.

The fact that Topsy couldn't get clear of Banahan, shows how much his pace has dropped over the years really. Sure, Watson is quick, just wouldn't describe him as amazingly quick. Splitting hairs really though I guess.

I thought Watson looked pretty rapid with that covering tackle...

Not quite sure how Burgess got MoM, I think Austin had decided before the game started!

Ref was pretty inconsistent I thought, but despite that there was some good rugby played by both teams. Things look good for Irish next year I think with those new signings/coach, they were better than the final scoreboard would have you believe.

The new signings will make huge difference Bathman. We have no depth in certain positions currently. Lock and back row replacements last night summed it. You brought on Attwood, Garvey and Fearns, a full England international and 2 Saxons. All young and going to continue to improve. We brought on Sean Cox (retiring) and Dan Leo (joining Ealing at the end of the season). Starting XV v Starting XV we were able to scrap for it and make it tough for you, but once the benches started to be emptied we were always going to struggle.

LondonTiger wrote:Anyone see last nights game? How come it was such a "game of two halves"?

Cumbrian wrote:Missed the game last night, BBC being hyperbolic about Burgess.  Was it deserved?  I see that he won a MOTM, usually quite difficult to be noticed at blind-side.

It was great yesterday to have a decent day with no work. Grtabbed an afternoon Boddington's and sat and watched a match in which I have no favourite.

In the first half Bath attacked fairly well but mostly seemed to lose the ball in LI territory. Then they pragmatically took whatever points were on offer which turned out to be the four penalties for twelve points. There was some tough defense from LI in there too. I think we could see which was the better team despite LI leading 13-12 at halftime. To be fair to LI, they did play tough and competed well. Hard to say what happened after halftime, except, perhaps, that Bath kept better control of the ball and turned their opportunities which were penalty kicks in the first half into tries. Bath scored four tries in the third quarter and looked deadly doing it.

I thought Burgess played very well. I hadn't planned to be focusing on him, but came to a point when I thought this bloke is always around the ball doing something. He played a nice game at 6, had a lot of carries, mostly the tough yards type, and looked like a Rugby player. Breakdown needs work, but running, positioning, tackling was very good. Tough guy to tackle. Still on the upward learning curve, but getting it.

yappysnap wrote:As much as they bang on about his leadership, I do think Hooper is a very poor lock, he never adds anything to the front 5.

Irish can feel a little hard done by at that scrum, fair enough if the red thought both packs were standing up, reset it, but he then penalised Irish later in the game for the exact same thing!

Over all a good win for Bath, but against the top teams they'll need to play better for longer

To add insult to injury the scrum where he pinged LI for standing up it was Webber that popped up first,  and it wasn't just the scrum - other examples include LI getting pinged for tackling a player in the air but when Bath did it he didn't seem to mind.  Bath were good for their win but it would be nice to get a ref that at least gave LI a chance.

Wasps team to face Exeter Chiefs
15. Andrea Masi
14. Christian Wade
13. Elliot Daly
12. Alapati Leiua
11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
10. Andy Goode
9. Joe Simpson
1. Matt Mullan
2. Carlo Festuccia
3. Lorenzo Cittadini
4. James Gaskell
5. Kearnan Myall
6. Ashley Johnson
7. James Haskell (c)
8. Nathan Hughes

16. Edd Shervington
17. Simon McIntyre
18. Jake Cooper-Woolley
19. James Cannon
20. Guy Thompson
21. Charlie Davies
22. Alex Lozowski
23. Rob Miller

This is a must win game for Wasps. Prior to London Welsh a fortnight ago we had lost three on the bounce. But they were to Toulon,  Saints and Sarries.

The new fixture arrangements for the European comps has meant a real stop start feel to the Premiership run in. There's another fallow weekend coming up

Slight surprise in the Sale v Quins game..

HT and its 6-22 Quins already have the tbp with Walker, Yarde, Robshaw and Care dotting down.

What a difference George Lowe makes!!

We're winning and my steam failed for the try, arrgghhh!