By Sparkie
May 24 2003

The final of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup beckons the second best and the second worst of the Premiership's teams to Reading. Wasps versus Bath and high time that one of the teams to put a little cup jinx to bed, if a flip comment made by Warren Gatland hasn't fired up the underdogs too much. Wasps v. Bath -- k.o. 15.45 on Sunday 25 May at the Madejski Stadium following the Caerphilly v. Castres Shield final at 13.00

Waspies will recall a certain out of context remark by Northampton's chairman on the eve of the last of our Tetley's Bitter Cup wins. Barwell infamously labelled our squad as being a tad "iffy" and stang our lads into action.

Gats' interview last week (quoted from www.bbc.co.uk) let slip these choice lines:

'Director of rugby Warren Gatland believes Bath have a "massive incentive" to win and qualify for Europe in order to attract new players. But he believes Wasps are more deserving of victory after their own productive campaign.

"We are unbeaten in the competition and we want to stay that way," Gatland said. "Bath were in a relegation battle and, to be honest, I don't think they deserve to win this competition."'

There's nothing like being honest and winding up both your opposition and your own squad at the same time! Add in the fact that a player from each team is moving to the other over the summer and you've got quite a potent brew stewing in the melting pot on Sunday (Martyn Wood to Bath and Tom Voyce in the opposite direction).

Wasps enjoyed the better of the league games against Bath. We stumbled late on after leading comfortably at the Recreation Ground in September and alsmost threw the game away. In the end a late King dropped goal saved the day after Dan Lyle looked to have stolen the game and the final score was tied at 27 apiece. In the return match at the beginning of April we were runaway victors by 19 points and a bonus point, winning 36-17.

In between times we "played" a very, very poor Powergen Cup match and lost 17-20 at Adams Park on a cold, dark, dank December day. Crucially for Bath Iain Balshaw was fit that day -- for half a match anyway. His major contribution was to set Bath on their way to an improbable away win. Coming into the line at pace he skipped past his soon-to-be team-mate, Martyn Wood, and powered over at the corner leaving Josh Lewsey flat-footed at fullback.

Balsh left the park at half-time with more shoulder trouble. However, a Chris Malone stroll through an open Wasps barn door with Paul Volley off the pace stretched Bath too far ahead for us to claw back on the day. Bath had worked their cup voodoo on us once again. Waspies will be hoping that Woody, CO and Volls et al. will have done ample penance this week in preparation to turn Bath's hoodoo on its head.

Waspies might want to gloss over our previous cup finals against Bath. Three meetings of the JPS and Pilkington varieties at Twickenham all ended in defeat, the last of which in 1995 was only memorable for us due to the chants ringing round the stadium for Carling's reinstatement as England captain after his infamous "57 farts" off-the-record quote. Bath were at their zenith then, their decline has been steep since then.

There is cause for optimism though. The first two finals in 1986 and 1987 saw Wasps take an early lead before being reeled in by a massively stronger Bath squad in the second half each time. The first of these bore witness to the emergence of a precocious 17-year old talent by the name of Gareth Rees. Whatever happened to him?

Another cause for optimimism is the venue, the Madejski Stadium. Wasps have beaten no fewer than three Premiership teams there in the shape of Richmond and London Irish in league matches and Bristol in the semi-final of the Tetley's Bitter Cup in 2000. We will want to emulate that game if at all possible, racing away to a 44 point lead early in the seasond half.

In fact, unless we score anything less than 30 points then Bath should not come into the equation. Score more than that and the game should be ours. I may be wrong, but save for the first round of this competition, Bath have scored over 30 points just once this season, that coming at home to Bridgend in the second round. Last season they had much the same problem. Their confidence is all but shot and they no longer score points at free will. The boot of Barkley is their key accumulator.

A final positive that we will take into this game is that we have yet to lose a game in ERC's equivalent of the UEFA Cup. Four rounds, eight victories and the likes of Bordeaux-Bègles, Stade Français and Pontypridd seen off both at home and away. Bath, on the other hand, have lost their last three away ties since they beat GR.A.N. Parma the day before our game in the same city and on the same pitch against Rugby Parma.

Bath might bemoan their unluckiness this season. I shall point to their results in the last two rounds of this competition. Not only did they have the luxury of playing at home in the second tie in all rounds but they beat Montauban by the narrow margin of three points. Then in the semis they overhauled Saracens by dint of having scored one more try than the Londoners (six against five over the two legs) as the aggregate scores were tied at 57 all (Perhaps Bumface had something to do with it?).

Last but not least, as this is a one-off final, Waspies will do well to remember our last such meeting in the semi-final of the Zurich Premiership just two seasons ago. Wasps were well in control of the game having stormed into a nigh on 20 point lead. Down went Dallaglio under a heavy tackle and our game foundered, as usual. The knock-on effect was felt by the Lions too.

Bath scored whilst Dallaglio was receiving treatment and, when he struggled to cover a loose pass when we were supposed to be enjoying an advantage, they swept through and scored again. In the end they scored a late try when our kicking from hand went to pot -- Balshaw and Voyce ran through us like a hot knife through butter and they turned out 31-36 winners.

June is almost upon us. Any sensible winter sport would be enjoying time-off by now. Not rugby though. Wasps have a couple of cup finals to contest before the players can wander off for some well earned R&R. Or they might if they haven't caught the eye of the national team selectors. It's World Cup year so time to flog the games best towards an early retirement.

At least Gats gave the players some time off this week, or so he says. It's all part of the mind games and psyching your opponents. Underplay your hand whilst looking forward to the Zurich playoff next weekend against Gloucester. Mind you, Bath are at it too. Brian Smith reckons they'll just run out and enjoy themselves now that the spectre of relegation has shifted further west to Bristol. But with a Heineken Cup place at stake for Bath, somehow I think the pressure is back on them, or at least the players that are staying on for another season of hard graft. Perhaps Heineken won't be able to refresh those Bathonian parts...

Wasps: 15 Mark Van Gisbergen; 14 Josh Lewsey, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Stuart Abbott, 11 John Rudd; 10 Alex King, 9 Martyn Wood; 1 Craig Dowd, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Will Green, 4 Simon Shaw, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 Joe Worsley, 7 Paul Volley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (Capt.)

Bench: 16 Rob Howley, 17 Kenny Logan, 18 Ayoola Erinle, 19 Mark Lock, 20 Peter Scrivener, 21 Alistair McKenzie, 22 Trevor Leota.

Probable Bath Line Up: 15 Iain Balshaw; 14 Tom Voyce, 13 Kevin Maggs, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Elvis Seveali’i; 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Gareth Cooper; 1 David Barnes, 2 Jonathan Humphreys, 3 John Mallett, 4 Steve Borthwick, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Andy Beattie, 7 Gavin Thomas 8 Dan Lyle.

The routes to the final:

Wasps:

1st round:
1st leg: Rugby Parma 24 Wasps 40 (HT: 10-26; Attendance: 1,500)
2nd leg: Wasps 42 Parma Rugby 0 (HT: 22-0; Attendance: 3,980)

2nd round:
1st leg: Wasps 43 Bordeaux-Bègles 6 (HT: 24-3; Attendance 3,217)
2nd leg: Bordeaux-Bègles 23 Wasps 29 (HT: 13-13; Attendance: 1,500)

Quarter final:
1st leg: Wasps 35 Stade Français 22 (HT: 16-13; Attendance: 5,269)
2nd leg: Stade Français 12 Wasps 27 (HT: 9-21; Attendance: 6,491)

Semi-final:
1st leg: Wasps 34 Pontypridd 19 (HT: 21-10; Attendance: 7,776)
2nd leg: Pontypridd 17 Wasps 27 (HT: 17-24; Attendance: 6,500)

Bath: 1st round:
1st leg: GR.A.N. Parma 3 Bath 40 (HT: 3-14; Attendance: 1,200)
2nd leg: Bath 57 GR.A.N. Parma 19 (HT: 24-0; Attendance: 7,840)

2nd round:
1st leg: Bridgend 28 Bath Rugby 26 (HT: 14-20; Attendance: 3,500)
2nd leg: Bath 38 Bridgend 10 (HT: 21-10; Attendance: 7,063)

Quarter final:
1st leg: Montauban 27 Bath 24 (HT: 18-18; Attendance: 6,000)
2nd leg: Bath 24 Montauban 18 (HT: 6-15; Attendance: 6,200)

Semi-final:
1st leg: Saracens 38 Bath 30 (HT: 13-10; Attendance: 6,482)
2nd leg: Bath 27 Saracens 19 (HT: 17-3; Attendance: 8,200)

Related links: Bath | London Wasps RFC official news

Coverage starts at 15.15 on British Eurosport. Highlights on BBC at 23.25