By Chris Chaplin
May 11 2005

Tigers are at the top of the Zurich Premiership league Wasps are second. That’s where we are. Tigers are now set the task of becoming pot wielding English Champions while Wasps are following their traditional route of securing the title from runners up spot. That’s also where we are!
While 30,000 Tigers supporters turned out to cheer on their team against Toulouse only around 15,000 are expected be at Twickenham next Saturday afternoon to support their team in person, even though on this particular occasion it will also represent their last chance to witness not only the final appearances of Johnno and Backy in their club shirts but also those of Will Green and Craig Dowd in Wasps’ colours. Such is the enthusiasm for the play-offs.

The valedictory nature of the occasion carries on off the field, it also being the last game when Warren Gatland and John Wells will be on the touch-line biting their nails as their respective charges join battle.

So Tigers’ supporters, whether enjoying a “big day out” at Twickenham, which is akin to spending an afternoon with Fagin, as the searching hand of the administrators of our sport roots around to find the last penny at the bottom of supporters’ pockets, or ensconced in front of the warbling of Stuart Barnes, Miles Harrison et al, will be praying that their heroes lift the piece of silverware and gain the recognition of the record books and the “suits”, that these days machinate to squeeze the last penny from the supporters, decide what is to be written.

Tigers will be aching to once again be undisputed Kings of the Hill as they were before, being the only team to have won the “regular season” AND the play-offs in the same season, but back then rightly getting two pots for their trouble, as should be the case now.

It will be an emotional occasion for both Tigers and Wasps even though the outpouring of that emotion at Welford Road on 30th April has already left barely a dry eye in the house with Wasps, to their credit, joining into the spirit of the day, helped by the generous presentations made by Tigers to Warren Gatland and Craig Dowd.

Wasps paid their own tribute to their departing heroes following the victory over Sale last Saturday at The Causeway Stadium. They finally despatched the North-Westerners, ably assisted by yet another appalling piece of officiating, this time by referee Dave Pearson and his hapless and hopeless touch judge Mr Durk who was unable to resume after half time due to an injury, perhaps he wanted to make good his escape!

The match itself was quite extraordinary as in the first half I thought I was watching Super12 so loose was the game.

Wasps’ strategy seemed to be that even if they shipped a hatful of points they could themselves score a hatful and more – a very dangerous game-plan against a side as richly possessed of scoring potential as is Sale who are the English masters of the unstructured game.

However Wasps did not make the same mistake they did at Welford Road a week earlier when this self same Plan A didn’t work either and they resolved then to use, Plan A again and lost 45-10 to a rampant Tigers. Against Sale though we saw the full range of the Wasps’ armoury deployed as in the second half they reverted to a more structured style of play and aided by the injury of Charlie Hodgson simply wore Sale out.

It would be a mistake to read too much into the Welford Road result of a fortnight ago as it will be recalled that Tigers gave Wasps a similar thumping in their own High Wycombe backyard in the closing stages of last year’s league but Wasps still went onto become English Champions and European Champions a week or two later.

One thing this lot don’t do is give up after a big defeat, ask Sale, and even though this will be Wasps’ ninth consecutive attempt to beat Tigers, their having last done so on 27th December 2002 at The Causeway Stadium, they will be determined to put the evil eye of the Tiger to rest.

It is generally accepted that Tigers and Wasps have been the best two teams in the league this term and now Tigers must once again triumph in this one off match to gain the official recognition of their achievement in topping the world’s toughest league competition, in spite of unprecedented calls upon their players for international duty.

Up front the Tigers eight will be straining every sinew to that end and Graham Rowntree will be mortified at missing out, however he is very ably replaced by Darren Morris who has had a superb season for Tigers and is arguably the most improved player of the year.

The talented Welshman will join with the bang in form George Chuter and the best tight head around, Julian White, in facing the soon to be Leinster bound Will Green and that most capped of All Black props; Craig Dowd, who I reckon could have been paced for this final hurrah, so I’ve a feeling he may start instead of Tim Payne and face one last test against White – and what a test that will be for the old Kiwi warrior.

The starting hooker will tell us what the Wasps’ game-plan is from the outset. If the orange headed Trevor Leota runs out then we can expect mauls a plenty and pick and drive to be the order of the day but if Gloucester boy Greening appears then it will be the loose unstructured approach.

Certainly the Leota option would be the safest bringing as it does solidity, a better chance of the lineout jumpers being found and a rumbustiousness that is missing when Greening is on parade.

Greening still has gremlins when throwing to the lineout and lacks the bulk in the scrum but if the game is to be broken up then he’s your man, it’s like having a fourth backrow.

Either way it’s hard to see anything other than the front row being an area of advantage for Tigers, especially with Johnno and Ben Kay likely to be behind it in the engine room and the whole able to get more of a shove on than the likely Wasps’ tight five.

At lineout time Shaw comes into his own but for me the unsung hero, still strangely unacknowledged in many quarters, is Birkett, who is the perfect foil for his more illustrious colleague and does some superb work at organising the set piece. Little to choose here, it will come down to which hooker succumbs to the pressure.

In the loose Shaw is peerless and a real danger as, often with Birkett in attendance, he tries to come though on the pop pass and he will target the Tigers’ 9/10 channel as he has so many times before to great effect against other opponents .

I think therefore at the set piece Tigers should have the edge but may lose something in the loose if Greening starts even though George Chuter his himself no slouch in open play.

The Wasps back row is set for another re-jig with young Tom Rees having joined Irish star Jonny O’Connor to watch the match from the sidelines.

Wasps do have other options but my guess is that John Hart will come into the blindside spot and that Worsley will move to open side.

Wasps will miss the mobility and dynamism that O’Connor and Rees bring to their set up and, in the case of the Irishman, his superb ability on the ground, which is an area where a certain Mr Back may enjoy a fine swansong for his club after a truly magnificent performance at Welford Road, when there seemed to be at least six Neil Backs cantering around.

Worsley has, in the matches I’ve seen this year, been less the force that he can be going forward but his defence has been superb and he will certainly stiffen up the open-side and be ready to take the ball up given the opportunity as he did against Sale, making him one of the stars of the show, if his loose pass that led to a Sale try is overlooked that is, joining with Dallaglio in being, on their day, a duo par excellence in this theatre of operations.

Although these days the new style Dallaglio is more often to be found operating nearer the pack around the fringes than in the wide open spaces as in days passed.

The only real issue I have with these two is that they can drift out of games and then back in again, almost as if they lose concentration, especially if things are going awry.

Tigers have lost both Lewis Moody and Henry Tuilagi which are real blows, however this disruption is tempered by the fact that Player of The Year and current England Captain Martin Corry is back, so I expect him to once again boss the restarts and compete in the lineout to good effect. Likely to be joined by the hard working Will Johnson, the newly restored Corry looks set to carry tirelessly to the Wasps defence and I expect a monumental tussle with Dallaglio.

There is then disruption a plenty for both sides here but the most significant may be the loss of a specialist open side by Wasps and the advantage that could accrue to Tigers at the breakdown and rucks as a consequence.

Overall I expect Tigers to win a close run and attritional forward battle and it is to be hoped that in this area especially referee Chris White is able to put some nightmarish performances this season behind him and return to his usual form.
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The fascinating conflict between the media star and the young pretender to the England #9 shirt continues. I think that there is little argument that Ellis did not fulfil his potential when playing for England and that the National team had added impetus once Dawson came on, however this is not England, this is the very highest quality club rugby.

I believe that Ellis’ platform will be the better but as we know Dawson is capable of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear of possession and so I see honours even here, especially if Dawson concentrates on matters at hand rather than endlessly wittering and looking like he’s conducting the Halle orchestra. Harry must keep his cool as doubtless he’ll again be targeted for some rough treatment to provoke him into acting rashly.

At fly-half Alex King gets, in my view, a bit of an unfair press, he is a tremendously intelligent reader of the game, deceptively quick on the break, strong in defence and a prodigious strategic kicker. He does sometimes seem to get himself into a negative mindset and when that happens it’s rather as if treacle has been poured into the Wasps’ transmission and while he’s never quite hit the representative heights on his day he can be hugely influential and the Tigers’ loose forwards will be trying to make him look twice and get inside his psyche to get those worms of doubt working away.

Opposite him will be the young man who’s renaissance since escaping the corrosive influence of Rod Kafer and benefiting instead from the tutelage of Pat Howard has seen him change from “not wanted on voyage” at Saracens to being very much wanted, not only by his club but also his country. Step up Mr Goode.

Should Wasps resolve to enter into a kicking contest then Goode will, I am sure, be equal to the task. The Tigers’ #10 is much more than a Goldenboot these days though, with deft handling and distribution, incisive breaks and robust defence very much the order of the day in a player brimming with confidence and of course Tigers’ opponents know that any misdemeanours, from even as far away as their own 10 metre line, can result in a three point punishment.

A word of caution though for our white booted tyro – you must find your touch and do not, repeat do not, kick to the Wasps’ backs.

If he’s on form King will be a noteworthy opponent and with Goode being targeted the Tigers’ playmaker will need plenty of protection.

I suppose that it’s in the centre that Tigers will hope to make some capital as Wasps continue to bemoan the loss not only of the superb Fraser Waters, who has been so influential in the High Wycombe club’s success, but also that of Stuart Abbott, crippled by Serge Betsen, as well as most recently that of one of their recruits from London Irish, Rob Hoadley, who was showing real signs of what he can do before injury intervened.

Instead Wasps have had to utilise world class winger/full back Josh Lewsey in partnership with the strong running Ayoola Erinle. It is without doubt that in this pairing they have one of the most dangerous attacking partnerships around however there’s more to that in the centre, where the tackling is up close and personal and Erinle has never really looked entirely comfortable with this part of the task. Not from feint heart but I think because of his size, which while a benefit when in attack turns into a liability when in the close confines of centre orientated defence.

Nobody can doubt Josh Lewsey’s defensive abilities and although these duties are different in the claustrophobic environs of the centre to those needed in the wider spaces of the wing or at the back he acquits himself well, however he seems, with his partner, still to be trying to come to terms with the alignment that is so important, especially when using the Wasps’ trademark rush defence, which can produce a dogleg if not executed with absolute precision.

Tigers on the other hand will have their settled and experienced specialist centre pairing with both Daryl Gibson and Ollie Smith being proficient in all departments. King, Erinle and Lewsey will need to contain the Welford Road based All Black for if they fail to keep him bottled up he will release the speedy Smith and then the hunt will need to be joined from the back foot – not to be recommended!

This was I thought an area where the robust Robert Todd and the artful Jos Baxendell looked very dangerous last weekend and I expect the Tigers duo to be similarly so on Saturday but of course if through carelessness they give either Erinle or Lewsey a sniff of the wide open spaces they’ll be gone.

Out wide Wasps will have the Tigerphobic talent of Tom Voyce, who by my reckoning is now one of the most effective of attacking forces in broken play with deceptive pace and footwork seeing him often break the first tackle and draw several defenders to him, which on Saturday would see Lewsey, Erinle or Sackey cut loose into the space thus created with potentially devastating consequences. Tigers must at all costs keep Voyce constrained by unfailingly making the first tackle count and prevent the offload.

Paul Sackey is certainly relishing seeing some ball with which, after his time of drought at London Irish, he must have needed to reacquaint himself. Indecently fast he always had a tendency to over play his hand when at Irish and looked vulnerable in defence but on both counts things may have improved since his arrival at The Causeway

Wasps are blessed by having the talented Mark VanGisbergen at full back who can make telling sorties into the attacking line and of course kick from all over the park, with King able to share the kicking duties when required.

Tigers’ back three should, in my view, be Lloyd, Healey and Murphy. Lloyd has had a fine season on the wing and I like the idea of him running at Sackey, while on the other flank the defence of Healey will be needed to keep Voyce under wraps as well as bringing that element of uncertainty to the minds of the Wasps’ defenders as to quite what is going to happen next.

As Tigers’ supporters don’t know what Healey is going to do next and his playing colleagues don’t know either at least the Wasps won’t be alone in trying to sort out the enigma that is Austin.

There is no doubt in my mind that Geordan Murphy should wear the #15 shirt and have a roving brief. Vesty has had a similarly good season and is rock solid at full back but if there is defensive weakness in the Wasps midfield then Murphy is the man to exploit it.

So will Tigers do the double and be League and English Champions come 5.30 or thereabouts on Saturday?

Well it will first be essential that Tigers impose their will and have the game played in the structured manner at which they excel for if they permit Wasps to break the game up, as they did in the first half against Sale, it will be to Tigers’ detriment.

It was Tigers’ inability to cope with this kind of play when employed by both Biarritz and Toulouse that led to their departure from the European Cup and while Wasps are not in the same class as either of the French teams in this style of play their only peers in the English game when playing this ersatz Super 12 are the vanquished Sale.

Tigers will want to play from a structured base to enable them to release their own talented backline and I think that Wasps will again find that Tigers have rather more shots in their locker than did Sale to bring this to pass so I am going (naturally) for a Tigers’ victory but it will be a nail-biteingly close encounter.