London Wasps v Leinster Rugby 8pm Friday the 5th of April Sky Sports

CIARAN_BOYLE

6 Bath 48
7 Wasps 47
8 Exeter 46

Stuck in a battle of two fronts, this will be a break from the battle for a top six domestic finish, and HEC qualification for Wasps as they host European Champions Leinster.

After failing to qualify for Heineken Cup knockouts this match is one part of Leinster’s operation to salvage their season. The goal for Leinster has to be a League and European Double.

Front Row
Healy Strauss Ross vs Taulafo Thomas Swainson
McGrath Cronin Hagan vs Payne Lindsay Taylor
In the front row Leinster have to have the advantage with an all international starting lineup compared to a young Swainson, a veteran Samoan, and a Welsh Hooker who has been outside the international setup for 5 years.

On the bench Leinster would have to have more impact with the dynamic international Cronin accompanied by McGrath and Hagan who have seen off Springbok Heinke Van Der Merve and Irish International Michael Bent.

On the Wasps bench in highly rated prospect Taylor at TH. Taylor is still young for a prop (22) but has featured in 18 games for Wasps this season. Former British Lion Tim Payne is the LH bench cover and Tom Lindsey is the backup hooker. Lindsey has featured this year in a rotational role this season starting 12 games and benching on 14 occasions.

Second Row
The Second Row is Wasps key area of strength, club vice captain, and match day captain, former Springbok Marco Wentzel is paired with English international Tom Palmer. This is compared with Leinster’s second row where veteran captain Leo Cullen and Devin Toner is a pairing of two primarily LH locks.

For Wasps, second row cover comes in the form of starting BS flanker Joe Launchbury since there are two loose forwards on the bench. For Leinster second row cover is provided by talented South African project Quinn Roux whose return from injury has been tentative as best.

Backrow
Leinster’s area of strength where Kevin McLaughlin Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip make up what has been over recent seasons one of Europe’s best back rows. They are challenged by Launchbury (primarily a second row), Jones and Johnshon in what is one of the most controversial areas of selection for Wasps. With Haskell missing due to injury the question was going to be what selections would the Wasps coaches make.

Half backs
Electric scrum halves are something Leinster have had some experience with in recent weeks having had to deal with Matawalu of Glasgow recently. Wasp’s Simpson is a player in a similar mould. Simpson is backed up by Davies who has been out of the Wasps 23 since mid-February. If called upon could rustiness be a factor?
Up against him Leinster present out of form Isaac Boss who will need to be at his best in order for Leinster to have a successful day. Also needed will be for young Scrum Half Cooney to step up from the bench.
Wasps seem have no shortage of aging fly halfs. Nicky Robinson is preferred to Stephen Jones who on the bench. Leinster’s Ian Madigan however may be faced with playing all 80 minutes in his first knockout start as 10 cover is provided by Isa Nacewa who is playing on the wing.

Centers
Chris Bell is paired with 77 capped Italian national Andrea Masi in the centre. This pairing goes up against Leinster’s own veteran international centre Darcy who is paired with utility back McFadden.

Whether the Darcy/McFadden pairing is a successful one is questionable. McFadden is a utility back whose best position seems to be either 12 or the wing. In terms of distribution the pairing is short as neither centre has the ability to just create something with a well-timed pass, however both are incredibly solid in the fundamentals and won’t let Leinster down. With the absence of O’Driscoll through suspension and Macken and O’Malley through injury McFadden was the only realistic option that Leinster coach Joe Schmidt could have gone for.

Back Three
At Fullback Leinster have last season’s ERC player of the year, while Wasp’s have in Daly a player that prefers to play in the center and is slightly questionable under the high ball.

In Varndell and Wade Wasp’s have the Aviva Premiership’s number one and number two top try scorers on the wing.
Leinster however don’t have the same tryscoring ability but they have in Nacewa and Dave Kearney a pair of players that are nigh on magical under the highball and have a good kicking game.

I’ve previously mentioned that the Leinster back three often looks like three fullbacks rather than the try scoring machine that other teams enjoy and this match is in many ways a clear indication of these differences.

Pack Weight
Leinster 901Kg vs Wasps 895KG
Interestingly there is only 6 kilos between the weights of the two starting packs. However the two heaviest players on the field are Mike Ross, half a stone heavier then the next heaviest player on the field, his teammate Devin Toner.

Prediction
Leinster to keep it tight, to play a forward dominated game and to focus on defence. No more than one try a piece (to be scored by Healy or O’Brien for Leinster and by Varndell or Wade for Wasps). Daly to mess-up at least one highball. Leinster to win by less than 6 and Madigan for MOTM.

opinionatedfan

Would have to fancy us, but our form of late leaves a lot to be desired.

irishbucsfan

You've really underrated their front row here. Swainston is rated as one of the best young scrummagers in the Premiership I believe. Lots of Wasps fans saying he's their player of the season so far! Pretty impressive considering he's probably only about 23 iirc

RandolphEsq

Time for kick-off?

CIARAN_BOYLE

irishbucsfan wrote: »

You've really underrated their front row here. Swainston is rated as one of the best young scrummagers in the Premiership I believe. Lots of Wasps fans saying he's their player of the season so far! Pretty impressive considering he's probably only about 23 iirc

Maybe I have I'll admit that I haven't seen a lot of him.

RandolphEsq wrote: »

Time for kick-off?

8pm, thread title changed

Thanos

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Pack Weight
Leinster 90Kg1 vs Wasps 895KG

:eek: 90Kg That would not end well......... (think the 1 is getting ahead of itself there)

irishbucsfan

I think the loose forwards that Wasps have selected show exactly what they're looking to do. Attack the breakdown and spoil leinsters possession. Leinster are going to try to punish Wasps with quick recycling and direct running.

Should be absolutely fascinating to watch the battle on the ground. Sam Jones is a great operator, he needs to be absolutely smashed.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Thanos wrote: »

:eek: 90Kg That would not end well......... (think the 1 is getting ahead of itself there)

Thanks for catching it for me

thomond2006

LONDON WASPS:

15: Elliot Daly
14: Christian Wade
13: Andrea Masi
12: Chris Bell
11: Tom Varndell
10: Nick Robinson
9: Joe Simpson

1: Zak Taulafo
2: T Rhys Thomas
3: Phil Swainston
4: Tom Palmer
5: Marco Wentzel CAPTAIN
6: Joe Launchbury
7: Sam Jones
8: Ashley Johnson

REPLACEMENTS:
16: Tom Lindsay
17: Tim Payne
18: Will Taylor
19: Jonathan Poff
20: Billy Vunipola
21: Charlie Davies
22: Stephen Jones
23: Hugo Southwell

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Dave Kearney
13: Fergus McFadden
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Isa Nacewa
10: Ian Madigan
9: Isaac Boss

1: Cian Healy
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Devin Toner
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Sean O'Brien
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:
16: Sean Cronin
17: Jack McGrath
18: Jamie Hagan
19: Quinn Roux
20: Shane Jennings
21: John Cooney
22: Andrew Goodman
23: Andrew Conway

REFEREE: Pascal Gauzere (FFR), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Neil Hennessy (WRU), Giuseppe Vivarini (FIR), TMO: Carlo Damasco (FIR)

errlloyd

If the wasps fullback is actually a centre, why don't they play Masi at fullback?

irishbucsfan

errlloyd wrote: »

If the wasps fullback is actually a centre, why don't they play Masi at fullback?

He's both. He's very dangerous at fullback as well and Wasps fans I spoke to want him to stay there. Supposedly he was their best player last week from fullback.

CIARAN_BOYLE

errlloyd wrote: »

If the wasps fullback is actually a centre, why don't they play Masi at fullback?

Masi wants to play center and made is a condition of his signing with wasps, (much like Pienaar at Ulster wanting to play SH).

Masi has had 16 starts this season all in the centers. Daly has suffered from it by being shifted around, playing center wing and FB as a result. Daly supposedly isn't happy at FB according to the fans I've talked to but who knows if it will stick. He has only played FB a few times in his career

[Jackass]

Given our recent form, injuries to key players and missing O'Driscoll, I'm very nervous about this one.

This has been an incredibly difficult season for Leinster, it's seemed at no point have we had a full deck to pick from, and some usual dependables have struggled for form.

Given those problems, coupled with an extremely difficult European group and our accesnt up the table only to be undone by a pretty deflating defeat to Ulster, we have struggled, began to build momentum, and have been knocked back again.

For me, this could well be a season defining game. We've probably let first place go in the league, a spot had we defeated Ulster we'd be fancied for, and may have lost a home semi also. Winning the league from here will be an extremely difficult, although still doable task.

A loss to Wasps at this stage would be catastrophoc imo. We need to maintain our standards of the last few years, even with all the difficulties we've had this season, if we beat Wasps we are two home games away from a European trophy. (even if it is no comparrison to the Heineken Cup, it's still a trophy that I think would really lift Leinster and it's supporters.)

Our season is in salvage mode, and this game is absolutely pivitol. I want us to win as much and am as anxious as I would be for a Heineken Cup quarter to be honest.

Very good write up, my only fear would be that we will look to dominate them physically up front, and if Wasps really stand up to that, I'm not sure how well we would do in a shoot out in the backline. Again, it's a patch work backline, and their wings are lethal. It's strange talking about a Leinster team like this.

One thing I will say about the Ulster game was that, as much as I praise him, and rightly so, Madigan was playing behind a level pegging if not beaten pack, and that hampered his game significantly. You could see it was the type of game that Sexton would have flourished in, imo he would have kept Ulster out of range for cheap points off the tee, and that was the difference imo. He was quiet and again, as much as I've said he's no where near up to level, Jackson ran his backs well on the night and Madigan didn't take an opportunity to stamp his authority on the game.

We'll need Madigan vs Glasgow rather than Madigan vs Ulster in this game, and as he's unproven at this level, it's tough to call how it will pan out, and that's what makes me nervous.

Going for a prediction, I think Wasps will be a lot more combative in the pack than people expect, they know that's exactly what we're going to aim to hit hard, I think it will be a slug fest, I think we'll be able to drag them into a slug fest and assuming Madigan will step up, I think we will shade it, but it will be tight as hell.

Leinster by 4 and to resist a late surge from Wasps.

molloyjh

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think the loose forwards that Wasps have selected show exactly what they're looking to do. Attack the breakdown and spoil leinsters possession. Leinster are going to try to punish Wasps with quick recycling and direct running.

Should be absolutely fascinating to watch the battle on the ground. Sam Jones is a great operator, he needs to be absolutely smashed.

We've had issues at the breakdown a fair bit this season so they could well make head way there. and if we defend like we did against Ulster in the first half then Wade and Varndell will have a field day. Can't wait for the trip over now, but wouldn't be confident about calling it at all.

ssaye

Consensus was 4/5/6 points and PP have just put us favs to win at 8/15 or with a -4 handicap at 10/11 in the last half hour.

http://www.paddypower.com/bet/rugby-union/amlin-challenge-cup/Wasps-v-Leinster-5045639.html

P_1

thomond2006 wrote: »

REFEREE: Pascal Gauzere (FFR),

I really don't like having Frenchmen refereeing our matches, where's Nigel?

totallegend

P_1 wrote: »

I really don't like having Frenchmen refereeing our matches, where's Nigel?

Doing the Bath v Stade Francais game.

FellasFellas

Gauzere and Poite are dreadful referees. Awful communicators due to their first language. I think Vunipola will be a big threat off the bench. I don't know if his form has been stellar so far but he can pull some "English" magic out of the bag.

toomevara

FellasFellas wrote: »

I think Vunipola will be a big threat off the bench. I don't know if his form has been stellar so far but he can pull some "English" magic out of the bag.

A lot of talk about Vunipola over here alright, but so far I'd have to say its not been justified. Decent player but definitely over-hyped so far.

ionadnapokot

Sam Jones v Jennings would have been good to watch.
We will have to settle for the sight of a tank flattening him like a pancake:pac:

ssaye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yG_bhordH0

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/video-wasps-get-in-the-mood-for-challenge-cup-14s-by-paying-homage-to-leinster-854801-Apr2013/?utm_source=twitter_self

irishbucsfan

That Elliot Daly try really was something else!

Grimebox

They have a tiny try area

FellasFellas

toomevara wrote: »

A lot of talk about Vunipola over here alright, but so far I'd have to say its not been justified. Decent player but definitely over-hyped so far.

I think in a broken up kinda game, it would suit him down to the ground. He's shown he can pick up the ball and make 50 metres with it easily in a broken field.

Mahatma Geansai

Very uninspiring Leinster side. The lock pairing is Rabo standard, and Madigan is probably the only exciting component of the backline. That said, its still a strong side that should get the win. Don't expect much Leinstertaining though.

.ak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH7AIMuKGQs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHuUZihlGnA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McH-MC3QkgY

phog

So Sexton didn't make it back in time, in a way I'm glad he wasn't rushed back as another knock might be enough for him to lose out in the Lions Tour and in fairness he deserves to travel.

I haven't seen much of Wasps this season and Leinster of the last few seasons would surely be expected to win this fixture but Leinster haven't been firing on all cylinders and are missing two game changers so Wasps must be looking to this as being one they can win.

Best of Luck Leinster, here's hoping for three from three in London this weekend

thomond2006

I hope Leinster get crippled.
























By Munster next week

opinionatedfan

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

Very uninspiring Leinster side. The lock pairing is Rabo standard, and Madigan is probably the only exciting component of the backline. That said, its still a strong side that should get the win. Don't expect much Leinstertaining though.

Who else could be in there? Strongest possible team right now.

Zzippy

phog wrote: »

So Sexton didn't make it back in time, in a way I'm glad he wasn't rushed back as another knock might be enough for him to lose out in the Lions Tour and in fairness he deserves to travel.

I haven't seen much of Wasps this season and Leinster of the last few seasons would surely be expected to win this fixture but Leinster haven't been firing on all cylinders and are missing two game changers so Wasps must be looking to this as being one they can win.

Best of Luck Leinster, here's hoping for three from three in London this weekend

Fvck the Lions, if he's not fit then fair enough, but saving players for an end-of-season tour and possibly losing out on a European title in the process would be bullsh1t. Not to mention winning the Amlin would earn a HEC place for Connacht next season, with all the added revenue that brings - more money into Irish rugby is a lot more important than one player making a Lions tour.

errlloyd

Lol JS

"Some of our lads were offered more money, but they stayed because they like it in Dublin, or Carlow, or Tullow...." Fair play to Sean O Brien.