London Wasps v Newcastle Falcons – Sat 1st March

By Workie Ticket (26/02/03)
February 26 2003

Following consecutive ZP wins against Harlequins and Leeds Tykes, Newcastle Falcons need to maintain the momentum. The win against Leeds moved us from 12th up to 11th and put Bath into the relegation hotspot.

Onwards (and Upwards?)

As one of only three premiership games this weekend we have a chance to move further away from the bottom spot. Bath may get a win at home against a Saracens side that also only have one away win this season. Harlequins will be dragged into the relegation dogfight if, as form suggests, they are beaten at Bristol on Sunday. Ignoring the complication of bonus points, wins for the Falcons, Bath and Bristol would move us up into 10th, equal on points with Quins, Bath would move up to 11th and London Irish would drop into the relegation spot! It would also reduce the points difference between the bottom six to just four points.

Last season we won at Loftus Road with the scoreline finishing at 33 – 30 to Newcastle, with Pat Lam setting up Jamie Noon to go over right at the end. Jonny Wilkinson didn't feature that day, having played for England the day before. However, we had the more than capable Dave Walder (pictured) ready to step into his shoes last season. In the return match Wasps sneaked a win with a last minute try scored by replacement winger Martin Offiah making the score 22 – 23 to Wasps. Earlier this season saw an unconvincing 24 – 17 win for the Falcons with only Wasps ill discipline and Jonny's boot keeping us in the game. Wasps outscored us two tries to nil.

Currently Wasps are sitting at 5th in the table and will be aiming for a top three finish to guarantee Heineken Cup Rugby for the 2003/2004 season and to give them a chance of playing in the ZP grand final. They have proven difficult to beat at home with Sale being the only team able to do it this season. Key players are the back row of Worsley, Volley and Dallaglio, halfbacks Howley (who wasn't available for the last game due to injury) and King. The danger man appears to be Lewsey who is now proving to be quite effective on the wing having played mainly at fullback.

It must have been déjà vu to all of the Falcons supporters who watched Jonny being carried off during the Wales v England game on Saturday evening. However, he has been sighted training at KP this week and has gone on record saying that he will be available for this game. It is no surprise that this season we are lost without him or Walder at 10.

As far as the rest of the team goes, Peel (pictured) and Hurter pick themselves at the moment and they should be guaranteed to be wearing the 1 and 3 shirts. In the last two games the lineout didn't function as effectively as it had for the rest of the season and there has been some erratic lineout throwing. Before this game was rearranged from its original April date Kiwi hooker James Christian was aiming to be back in time for the Leicester game. Obviously whether or not he starts depends on his fitness. Makin has performed well in the scum and loose in his absence, so should start if Christian isn't available. First choice second row would have to be Andrews and Grimes. However, Andrews was reported to be out for 3-4 weeks following the injury picked up during the game at Leeds and/or returning to South Africa to collect his family so he probably won't feature. Personally, I would like to see Vyvyan partner Grimes with a back row of Britz, Mower and Arnold, who has been seen training with the rest of the team this week, to go up against Wasps back row angels Worsley, Volley and Dallaglio. We need experienced back row play against these guys and Epi would do more damage as an impact substitution with 20-30 minutes to go.

Grindal should partner Jonny in the half backs with, in my opinion, the strongest backline being Stephenson and Noon on the wings, Mayerhofler and May in the centres and Botham at full back. However, we'll probably see Noon partnering Mayerhofler, with Botham on the wing and Shaw at fullback. That would leave, for us, a strong bench of Ward, Makin or Thompson, Hamilton, Epi Dowson Charlton and May.

So can we do it?

My head says no, but my heart says yes. Wasps record at their new home is impressive and they could have beaten us earlier in the season. The OPTA stats show two similarly matched teams with only slight advantages over each over in the measure performance areas. However, Wasps average penalty count is 50% higher than ours, and as Wasps learned in September you cannot afford to give penalties away when Jonny Wilkinson is around!

Thanks to Andrew Blades the performance of our forwards has improved dramatically since the start of the season. We just need the backs to step forward and show us what they can do. Lets hope Jamie Noon's elevation to the England training squad inspires the rest of the backs to perform as well as he had over the course of the season. We also need to get the tactics right and should be aiming to play most of the rugby in Wasps half of the pitch. Leota and Greening are not the greatest lineout throwers and this is an area where we must apply pressure.

Prediction: I will stick my neck out by saying Falcons to win by 5-10 points!

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London Wasps vs Newcastle Falcons (11th Nov 2001)