Preview: Wasps v London Irish
Wasps have made two changes to the team that suffered defeat at Franklin's Gardens for Sunday's meeting with London Irish.
Wasps have made two changes to the team that suffered defeat at Franklin's Gardens for Sunday's meeting with London Irish.
Director of Rugby Tony Hanks has named David Lemi on the wing in place of Paul Sackey while Ben Broster is in for Zak Taulafo at prop.
Sackey and Taulafo join the replacements, along with Warren Fury in place of the injured Dan Leo.
“Sunday's game will be the third time we've played London Irish this season, but it's the first time we get to host them at Adams Park and we are pleased to back on home turf ready for what we expect to be a fast and physical game,” said Hanks.
“A lot of the players and coaches from both sides know each other well and I think that adds to the mutual respect whilst making some of the individual match-ups that bit more exciting.
“This game is very important in terms of our hopes of making the top four and the Guinness Premiership play-offs. We want to be in control of our own destiny and to do that we need four wins, starting with a good performance on Sunday. Our home record of late has been strong, and whilst we're disappointed at our recent away form, the fixture at Northampton gave us a lot to be proud of and a lot to build on.”
Meanwhile, London Irish have announced an unchanged starting line-up for Sunday's Guinness Premiership match.
Last week's five-try home win over Sale Sharks provided the Exiles' players and coaches with a timely confidence boost ahead of Sunday's local derby match with Wasps who are just one place below Irish in the league table.
“Our performance last weekend was great for confidence going into this important series of fixtures,” said Toby Booth, London Irish Head Coach.
“It was good to score five tries and defend well on the back of a dominant display by our forwards. We expect this Sunday's match to be much harder. Regardless of the competition, fixtures between Wasps and ourselves are always very competitive and accuracy at the breakdown is usually the decisive factor.”
Form: The two teams have already met twice this season at Madejski Stadium, with London Irish taking the first 28-16 in the Guinness Premiership on 27 September, and Wasps winning the other, 24-20 in the LV= Cup on 8 November. London Wasps have been victorious in just one of their last four games in the Guinness Premiership: 24-19 at home to Gloucester on 7 March. Wasps have also won four of their five previous Premiership games they have played on Easter Sunday. London Irish have lost just one of their last four matches: 19-35 at Leicester on 6 March, whilst the Exiles have not won away from home in the Guinness Premiership since their trip to Bath on 28 November. The Exiles have not achieved a Premiership double over Wasps since 2001/02.
The teams:
Wasps: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Dom Waldouck, 12 Steve Kefu, 11 David Lemi, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 John Hart, 7 Tom Rees (capt), 6 Joe Worsley, 5 George Skivington, 4 Dan Ward-Smith, 3 Ben Broster, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Zak Taulafo, 18 Bob Baker, 19 Serge Betsen, 20 Warren Fury, 21 Paul Sackey, 22 Dave Walder, 23 Ben Jacobs.
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 John Rudd, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Delon Armitage, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 George Stowers, 5 Bob Casey (capt), 4 Kieran Roche, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 James Buckland, 1 Dan Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 James Tideswell, 18 Alex Corbisiero, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Chris Malone, 22 Mike Catt, 23 Tom Homer.
Date: Sunday, April 4
Kick-off: 13:30 BST
Venue: Adams Park