Preview - Newcastle v London Wasps
Tue, 06 May 2008 18:44
Fresh from claiming Leicester Tigers' scalp at the weekend, the Newcastle Falcons could put another dent in a top-level team's title aspirations when they entertain London Wasps in a postponed Guinness Premiership fixture at Kingston Park on Wednesday night.
This match was initially meant to have taken place in Round 14, on Friday, February 29, but 'high winds' put paid to that - a section of the West Stand's roof blew off - handing both teams the unenviable task of playing three top-level fixtures in the space of just seven days.
Wasps suffered a 17-25 home defeat to log leaders Gloucester on Sunday, but Newcastle threw the cat amongst the Guinness Premiership pigeons with their pugnacious 28-25 win over the defending champion Tigers at the same time.
Tigers - who face NEC Harlequins this weekend - are basically out of semifinal contention now (with just a place in Europe to battle for), but Wasps could afford to lose on Wednesday night and still go through into the play-offs by beating Leeds Carnegie on Saturday.
All Wasps need is one point from their next two matches to squeeze into fourth place, but a full-house of 10 points in their final two fixtures (and a loss for Bath against Gloucester at Kingsholm) could see them grab a home semifinal spot - a big advantage in the play-offs given the closeness of competition in this year's Guinness Premiership.
London Wasps' Director of Rugby, Ian McGeechan, has made a staggering seven changes to his pack for this encounter, whilst also reshuffling his backline almost entirely.
But this Wasps team still has a classy look to it, with 11 internationals named in their matchday 22 and the likes of Raphael Ibanez, Lawrence Dallaglio and Tom Voyce being rested during the week.
"With three games in the space of seven days, the way we manage our players this week is crucial," explained McGeechan.
"Obviously, we are now preparing for our last two games of the season, and both are critical.
"We also know that we have to put in a good performance against Newcastle, which we haven't done in recent years. [So] it's important that we balance selection to keep the players fresh and also match personnel with the tactical requirements of what we want to do in each game."
A confident Newcastle, however, will do Wasps no favours come Wednesday night, as the visitors look for a win on the Tyneside for the first time since November 2003.
Speaking about his team's win over Leicester on Sunday, Steve Bates, Newcastle's acting Director of Rugby, said: "We have now seen the level of performance that we are capable of, and the big thing to work on is achieving a level of consistency in that regard."
And looking ahead to Wednesday, despite a difficult run-in to the season-end, Bates added: "If you'd asked people that question on Sunday lunch-time with Leicester and Wasps still to play in the space of four days and a trip to Worcester, you could be forgiven for having a feeling of 'Let's just get this week out of the way'.
"But given what happened on Sunday afternoon, there is now a real buzz among the place, and everyone is keen to get back out there.
"We have a good bunch of players, and I believe the way we are now asking them to play will really get the best out of them. As we saw against Leicester we are very capable of competing with the very best sides, and when you look at the team we beat at the weekend it was basically an International Select XV.
"Wasps now come up here at a time when we are really confident, but like Leicester they are a class side and will provide extremely tough opposition for us."
rugby365.com prediction: Both teams have made quite a few changes to their line-ups, but Wasps still look that much stronger on paper. It should be a good tussle up front, especially at scrum-time with Carl Hayman there, but the Wasps backline just oozes too much attacking class against a Jonny Wilkinson-less home side. Wasps to win - but not by many...
The teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Tom May, 14 Ollie Phillips, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Tim Visser, 11 John Rudd, 10 Steve Jones, 9 Hall Charlton, 8 Russel Winter, 7 Brent Wilson, 6 Phil Dowson (captain), 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Andy Perry, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Matt Thompson, 1 Micky Ward.
Replacements: 16 Rob Vickers, 17 David Wilson, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Ed Williamson, 20 Peter Browne, 21 Micky Young, 22 Rob Miller.
London Wasps: 15 Riki Flutey, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Dominic Waldouck, 11 Josh Lewsey, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 John Hart (captain), 7 Tom Rees, 6 James Haskell, 5 Richard Birkett, 4 George Skivington, 3 Pat Barnard, 2 Joe Ward, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Tom French, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Joe
Worsley, 20 Mark McMillan, 21 Jeremy Staunton, 22 Mark van Gisbergen.
Date: Wednesday, May 7
Venue: Kingston Park, Newcastle
Kick-off: 20.00 (21.00 SA time, 19.00 GMT)
Referee: Rob Debney
