SPLIT LOYALTY

By Vespasian
November 14 2008

London Wasps travel across town from Acton to Twickenham to take on our oldest rivals Harlequins. Given that the best part of a dozen players will be missing from the teams due to the international matches the day before, one should not expect too much from this encounter.

London Wasps have six players on international duty, and Quins three. Quins must be favourites on form and they welcome Nick Evans into the fold for this derby match. Old Wasp, Andy Gomarsall, will pair up with the former All Black aiming to make life difficult for our visit.

Wasps rejig the half backs, too, as well as trying yet another centre pairing and give Munsterman, Mossie Lawlor, a debut following good showings for the A team.  Wasps will be completely and utterly relieved that Ugo "Try Machine" Monye has been nabbed by England but we should still be wary of the cross-field bomb that has served Quins so well over recent encounters. We also desperately need to shore up the midfield.

The forwards look well matched, in theory, but Quins have been building sound foundations for a while now under Dean Richards' directorship. Rest assured, they will apply a Tiger-like grip on the tight play.

It's a little early to expect Tony Hanks to add to our tactical options just yet. A draw would be quite a result for Wasps, under the cirumstances...

London Wasps team: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen; 14 Mossie Lawlor, 13 Josh Lewsey, 12 Lachlan Mitchell, 11 Tom Voyce; 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 Mark Robinson; 1 Tim Payne, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Pat Barnard, 4 George Skivington, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 John Hart, 7 Serge Betsen, 8 Joe Worsley (Capt.)

Bench: 16 Raphael Ibanez, 17 Tom French, 18 Dan Leo, 19 Hugo Ellis, 20 Joe Simpson, 21 Dave Walder, 22 Rob Hoadley

Harlequins: 15 Tom Williams; 14 Seb Stegman, 13 Tosh Masson, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Charlie Amesbury; 10 Nick Evans, 9 Andy Gomarsall; 1 Ceri Jones, 2 Gary Botha, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Ollie Kohn, 5 Jim Evans, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Will Skinner (Capt.), 8 Tom Guest

Bench: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 George Robson, 19 Neil McMillan, 20 Junior Polul, 21 De Wet Barry, 22 Chris Malone