ZP Preview: Wasps v. Mellie's table toppers

Phormerly Phat
By Sparkie
January 3 2003

Wasps go into this weekend with the chance to claw back Gloucester's lead at the top of the Zurich Premiership to only one point. Philippe St.Andre may well have describe this match as "le crunch" but he has gone and our old mentor, Nigel Melville is at the helm of the 'holm mob.

Our paths have crossed on several levels during the past three seasons. Gloucester were renowned for not being able to win away from home in the league. That is indeed the case on "our" patch -- played 13, lost 13. Which team will that statistic be unlucky for this weekend? Wasps, if Mellie has anything to do with it.

Then there was the small matter of the Tetley's Bitter Cup semi final on 4 April 1999 (Stats). Wasps won a tough encounter 35-21 at Loftus Road and went on to beat Rob Andrew's Newcastle Falcons 29-19 in the final at Twickenham. The semi final completed a marvellous treble over Glaws that season. We beat them 13-12 in the final minute at Kingsholm thanks to that (screensaving) try by Will Green after Alex King had opened up their midfield with surgical precision.

The following season Glaws were well ahead of the pack early on, but inconsistency held them back once more whilst we took the cup again. The strain on St.André began to tell in 2000-2001 when poor away form and continuing low team morale saw them suffer another defeat to us in front of the Shed by 28-3 and an even worse drubbing away to Bath, 50-16. Although Glaws gave Leicester a run for their money and almost beat them at Welford Road, we overtook them rapidly in the closing stages to finish in second spot. We also disposed of them in the playoff quarter finals, 18-6, thus completing another treble.

Ian Jones, that great All Black lock chose to retire at that point rather than fade away. To his credit, St. André got his team ticking over but no more than that. He became embroiled in ever-increasing contractual circles. One could make the case that he was the unwitting architect of his own demise. Having built on Richard Hill's strong, if somewhat short-lived foundations, his failure to come up with silverware prior to 2002 forewarned of a premature exit. Rumblings of discontent off the park remained despite some useful results.

At the same time, we were enduring our autumn of discontent. Injury after injury had shorn us of the best part of our pack. Our strong team spirit from the close of the previous season evaporated as we stared into the abyss of relegation, if there was to be any...

S.I. Hayakawa reminds us to think laterally whenever possible: "If you see in any given situation only what everyone else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it." Fortunately, Nigel Melville was able to persuade Gloucester's retiree to put down his fishing pole and fly back to our rescue. The Kamo Kid, a.k.a. Jones the Taller, threw us a lifeline by sorting out or pack's shortcomings.

Meanwhile back at Castle Grim, we witnessed the weird conversion of our former scrum half, Andy Gomarsall, to a bit part stand off. One suspects that Major Tom Walkinshaw is also a devotee of Hayakawa's principle. Seeing that Mellie was still in dire straits, might the Major have floated a view to Mellie of a new western alliance? Dispose of a winged Frenchman and in with an English playmaker?

The result is plain to see. Glaws are P6 W5 D1 L0. We are unbeaten at our new venue under Warren Gatland. I think we will ignore Mellie's kind words and pull out all the stops on Saturday in front of Sky TV's cameras. He knows we can, having witnessed our 44-9 ice-breaking demolition as a guest last April!

Wasps: 15 Josh Lewsey; 14 Shane Roiser, 13 Stuart Abbott, 12 Ayoola Erinle, 11 Kenny Logan; 10 Alex King, 9 Rob Howley; 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 Martyn Wood, 17 Mark Van Gisbergen, 18 John Rudd, 19 Peter Scrivener, 20 Joe Beardshaw, 21 Darren Molloy, 22 Trevor Leota

Gloucester from:

Simon Amor, Thinus Delport, Terry Fanolua, Marcel Garvey, Andy Gomarsall, Ludovic Mercier, Henry Paul, Clive Stuart-Smith, James Simpson-Daniel, Robert Todd

Olivier Azam, Jake Boer, Peter Buxton, Mark Cornwell, Andy Deacon, Adam Eustace, James Forrester, Chris Fortey, Junior Paramore, Ed Pearce, Phil Vickery (c), Trevor Woodman

 10 Apr 2002   Wasps vs Gloucester   44 -  9   Loftus Road  
 23 Nov 2001   Wasps vs Gloucester   13 - 43   Kingsholm  
 29 Apr 2001   Wasps vs Gloucester   18 -  6   Loftus Road  
 10 Feb 2001   Wasps vs Gloucester   28 -  3   Kingsholm  
 17 Sep 2000   Wasps vs Gloucester   43 - 23   Loftus Road  
 22 Apr 2000   Wasps vs Gloucester   12 - 26   Kingsholm  
 26 Sep 1999   Wasps vs Gloucester   30 - 26   Loftus Road  
 27 Dec 1998   Wasps vs Gloucester   23 -  9   Loftus Road  
  3 Oct 1998   Wasps vs Gloucester   13 - 12   Kingsholm  
 11 Mar 1998   Wasps vs Gloucester   15 - 22   Kingsholm  
 11 Jan 1998   Wasps vs Gloucester   26 - 20   Loftus Road  
  9 Mar 1997   Wasps vs Gloucester   36 - 10   Loftus Road  
  6 Oct 1996   Wasps vs Gloucester   23 - 28   Kingsholm  
 30 Mar 1996   Wasps vs Gloucester   21 - 10   Repton Ave  
 14 Oct 1995   Wasps vs Gloucester   26 - 15   Kingsholm  
  7 Jan 1995   Wasps vs Gloucester   21 - 16   Kingsholm  
 10 Sep 1994   Wasps vs Gloucester   45 -  8   Repton Ave  
  8 Jan 1994   Wasps vs Gloucester   29 - 18   Repton Ave  
 11 Sep 1993   Wasps vs Gloucester    9 -  9   Kingsholm  
 24 Oct 1992   Wasps vs Gloucester   14 -  9   Repton Ave  
 18 Apr 1992   Wasps vs Gloucester   10 - 15   Kingsholm  
 20 Oct 1990   Wasps vs Gloucester   14 -  9   Repton Ave  
 14 Oct 1989   Wasps vs Gloucester   29 -  4   Repton Ave 
  8 Oct 1988   Wasps vs Gloucester    3 - 19   Kingsholm  
 13 Feb 1988   Wasps vs Gloucester   24 - 13   Kingsholm