Tommy gun

By Dobbin
April 2 2010

If you took a year's worth of pent-up frustration, liquefied it, bottled it, added a dash of adrenaline, downed it in one and then ran out onto a rugby field, what would you get? Until last week, I'd probably have said a dose of something your doctor wouldn't like. But that was before I saw Tom Rees's comeback performance at Northampton. Of course, having Tom Rees in your squad is a vital part of the recipe, and Saturday's game at Franklin's Gardens showed just what we've been missing since his shoulder gave out in April last year. It was like watching a wind up toy adapted to take industrial springs (because the ones it came with kept breaking), wound up until the metal was coiled to within a nanoNewton (?) of snapping, and then set free. Tearing up all the received wisdom about slow returns, half an hour here, an A team game there, nice and easy does it, Rees went through the full eighty minutes of a tough, physical encounter and still looked like he could have done it all over again at the end. No doubt the impression was deceptive – he probably felt like he'd been through ten rounds with Mike Tyson at his peak – but the sheer will, the at last fulfilled desire to be out on a rugby pitch again, tackling and carrying and getting on the wrong side of Dave Pearson, shone through everything Reesy did. Despite the defeat, I couldn't help leaving the ground with half a smile on my face.

And this Sunday he gets to do it all over again. Fresh from his scrap with Neil Best and the Saints, the small matter of Steffon Armitage and friends await Rees this weekend, and what do you know – it's a must-win game.

Irish currently sit in the final play-off place that Wasps vacated last week, having demolished Sale in a five try rout at the Madejski a day after Stephen Myler squeaked Saints to victory at Franklin's Gardens. With four games left, Wasps are running out of opportunities to secure a play-off berth, and a home match against one of our chief rivals is a perfect opportunity to reassert our credentials. The statistics would seem to be in Wasps' favour. 15-10 in Premiership meetings, Wasps have won ten of their thirteen home games against London Irish since the latter were promoted into the top flight in 1996. Since the 1997/8 season, however, Irish have won at Wasps every four visits, and Wasps have won the last three meetings! Still, who takes any notice of statistics?

The last Irish victory, in 2006, is one that still lingers in the memory. Occasionally rugby will throw up a match in which the normal parameters don't seem to apply. Defence will be wholly overwhelmed by attack. Tries will be scored with dizzying regularity, throwing into chaos the plans of those who customarily use kicks at goal as an opportunity to relieve their bladders of pre-match over-exuberance. In other parts of the world they call this sort of match the Super 14. In the Guinness Premiership we call it a bolt from the blue, and usually blame the weather or the referee or the absurd bounce of the ball. A willingness to attack is one thing, the acquiescence of the opposition quite something else. When it happens both ways and the score finishes 37-56 with both sides securing bonus points (Irish could have secured two on the day, if you got them for every four tries scored) you have to think that's something a bit special. Special, but not something you'd like to see too often. You can have too much of a good thing, especially when the opposition are getting more of it than you.

At the beginning of this season, London Irish looked to be picking up where they left off last year (the loss to Sarries at the double-header aside). Like Wasps, they won five of their first six matches, and appeared to be settling in for a season-long sojourn in the top four, possibly top two. But then the wobble struck. A draw against Quins, a home defeat to Newcastle, another draw, this time with Worcester. Since the turn of the year, they have won just two of their six Premiership matches, have lost at home to Bath and drawn away to the Falcons. Like Wasps, they have frittered away a comfortable early position and now find themselves part of a four-way scrap for the two spare play-off places. Looking at the table, looking at results, you're forced to conclude that the only thing separating the two most successful clubs, Leicester and Northampton, from the chasing pack is consistency. Wasps have beaten both at home, Irish beat Leicester early in the season and were within two points of Saints at fortress Franklin's Gardens. On their day, anybody can beat anybody. Consistency is the key – and it must be the most difficult thing for coaches to engender in their squads.

Injuries and representative call-ups don't help, of course, and both clubs have been afflicted over the season. But so were Leicester early on and they ground out the results required to keep themselves in the mix, and now they sit comfortably atop the pile with just a few games remaining. No such luxury for Sunday's protagonists at Adams Park. A win would bring the possibility of a play-off place that much closer. A loss – for Wasps especially - would effectively rule them out of the end-of-season reckoning. The stakes are high. Tom Rees needs to pull out another performance like the one he produced last week. And the rest of the Wasps team need to follow their captain's example.

Prediction: statistics be damned, Wasps to win by a short head