Preview: GP semifinal - Wasps v Bath
Sat, 17 May 2008 00:07
Saracens boss Alan Gaffney - speaking after Bath's demolition of Sarries some two weeks ago - picked London Wasps as the only team capable of stopping the west country club from winning the Guinness Premiership title this season.
Did Gaffney perhaps know something we didn't well before of Sunday's semifinal between London Wasps and Bath Rugby?
Whilst Gaffney did not perhaps expect Wasps and Bath to meet in the semifinals already, he was simply blown away by Bath's showing on Sunday, May 4 - the home side trashing Saracens 66-21 in one of the most complete performances ever seen in this competition.
"It is going to take a very good defensive side to hold them out," said Gaffney after Bath's nine-try demolition of the 'Men in Black'.
"You have got to slow down their off-load game - Bath are the best team in the Premiership at off-loading in the tackle - although Wasps could possibly do that."
But how do you stop front row forwards Lee Mears and Matt Stevens from committing two or three defenders and then off-loading the ball to, say, Michael Lipman running off their shoulders, before the ball passes swiftly through the hands of Butch James and Olly Barkley en route to man-mountain Matt Banahan or the more subtle Joe Maddock?
Well, one way to stop them doing so is to actually keep the ball out of their hands. Win your line-outs, compete on their throw-ins and protect the ball on the ground. And in Simon Shaw, Lawrence Dallaglio and Tom Rees the Londoners might just have the men to compete with the likes of Steve Borthwick, Danny Grewcock and Lipman in those areas, to name just a few.
Of course, counting in Wasps' favour come Sunday is that they have beaten Bath twice this season - the only side to have beaten the west country side at the Rec in the 2007/08 Guinness Premiership. Also, the last time these sides met in a Premiership play-off match, in 2003/04, Dallaglio's men won 10-6 at Twickenham en route to doing a European and English double.
Looking ahead to Sunday, Bath's open-minded coach Steve Meehan said: "We don't think we have played as well against Wasps this season as we can play and this is a great time to put that right by throwing everything we have at them on Sunday."
And Meehan will certainly be able to throw everything at Wasps - his front row forwards Lee Mears and Matt Stevens both recovering from niggles picked up against Gloucester last week to take their place against Raphael Ibanez and Tim Payne, respectively.
Stevens, himself, was in quite a confident mood this week after recovering from his knee injury, which coincided with an away loss to Gloucester, which condemned Bath to this away semifinal.
In fact, the South African-born prop - oddly enough, Wasps' tighthead, Pat Barnard is also South African - believes last Saturday's 6-8 loss at Kingsholm was not the end of the world.
"In a way, losing at Gloucester may turn out to be no bad thing because it has acted as a wake-up call for us," he told Bath Rugby online.
He added: "I'm very excited about this weekend - it's the biggest club this team has faced in seven years and I believe we are ready for it
"That's challenge for us is to prove that we can rise to the big occasion and win the matches that really matter and show everybody what a good side this Bath team is."
Players to watch:
For Wasps: You always have to keep an eye on young Danny Cipriani, quite simply one of the biggest talents in world rugby right now. Riki Flutey - in the No.12 shirt - is a calming influence next to young Cipriani, whilst wing Paul Sackey's fitness will have a huge bearing on things out wide come Sunday. Up front, one Lawrence Dallaglio will always grab some headlines, but this could be the great man's final match for Wasps, so you would want to keep a close eye on him as he goes about securing one last Twickenham finale.
For Bath: Butch James and Olly Barkley represent everything that has been good about the Bath backline this season - sharp and incisive; James's brute force and Barkley's silky skills are the perfect 10-12 foil, much like Wasps' 10-12 axis... Up front, a second row pairing of new England skipper Steve Borthwick and the abrasive Danny Grewcock is as good as any lock duo, whilst Lee Mears and Matt Stevens have produced some incredible front row play at times this season.
Head to head: There are some seriously mouth-watering match-ups across the board here, but it would be wrong to look past the battle between England opensides Tom Rees (Wasps) and Michael Lipman (Bath). Both Rees and Lipman featured for England during the 2008 Six Nations, Lipman ending the tournament in the No.7 after injury got the better of Rees and Leicester's Lewis Moody. Lipman, however, has gone from strength to strength since the Six Nations and he will be looking to show his younger opponent a few tricks when it comes to No.7 play - especially with the two of them set to fight it out for England's openside role in New Zealand next month. The battle at the breakdown is always a scrappy affair, but with game-breakers galore on both teams, the winner of this battle could just have a hand in deciding who goes to Twickenham later this month.
Previous results from this season:
December 29, 2007
Wasps 25 Bath 10 (Adams Park)
February 16, 2008
Bath 34 Wasps 42 (Recreation Ground)
rugby365.com prediction: Neither of these semifinals are going to be easy to call. There's Bath's amazing form this season, there's the Lawrence Dallaglio factor, there's Olly Barkley of Bath, there's Danny Cipriani of Wasps... Where does it end? It doesn't end, there's match-ups across the board and loads of factors that will affect the outcome. Our call? We'll give it to Wasps - but only just.
The teams:
Wasps: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (captain), 7 Tom Rees, 6 James Haskell, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Pat Barnard, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements (from): Richard Birkett, Tom French, John Hart, Joe Ward, Joe Worsley, Mark McMillan, Jeremy Staunton, Mark van Gisbergen, Dominic Waldouck.
Bath: 15 Joe Maddock, 14 Andy Higgins, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Daniel Browne, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Jonny Faamatuainu, 5 Danny Grewcock,
4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Barnes.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Peter Short, 19 Chris Goodman, 20 Mike Baxter, 21 Shaun Berne, 22 Nick Abendanon.
Date: Sunday, May 17
Venue: Adams Park, London
Kick-off: 14.00 (15.00 SA time, 13.00 GMT)
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Robin Goodliffe, Paul Dix
TMO: Matt Peters, Graham Hughes
