ZP Preview: Tykes expecting a close scrap

80%plus kicker
By Sparkie
November 29 2002

Tykes await Wasps at Headingley with a great deal less trepidation than a year ago. We were rooted to the foot of the table, five points adrift of our hosts. A handful of weeks before we had demolished Tykes by a fifty point margin, sowing the seeds of confidence for a timely four-try win in Leeds.

This time round it will be a much harder task. Tykes continue to impress, having drawn on our turf and shown some backbone in going down to a 28-10 defeat away to Zurich Premiership leaders, Gloucester, last weekend.

Phil Davies continues to build his squad, bagging the Canadian flyer, Winston Stanley, only this week. Stanley takes his place on their bench on Sunday. Waspies might just remember this man, he burned past our backs to score for Leicester against us at the beginning of the 2000-2001 season. He should slot right in at Leeds, a team which already boasts the highest try-scorer in Dan Scarbrough (8 tries) this season. Chris Hall on the left wing is no slouch either, with five tries to his name.

If Phil Greening needs a reminder of what he needs to do to get his England jersey back then Mark Regan points the way. He has just been named Zurich player of the month for November as a reward for his stirring leadership skills on and off the field. Tykes renaissance this season is due in no small part to their influential hooker.

What of Wasps? Mutterings of discontent and crisis in the media need addressing by affirmative action on the park. Our results have not been the best during the autumn internationals. Le plus ça change ... , one might wonder, it seems to have ever been thus.

The discontent that Mark Denney alludes to in his Scrum diary column may well be a double entendre but the overwhelming message he underlines is that we must get the basics right, whoever is playing on the day. Some of us may think he is a malcontent too, but I think too much is being read between the lines -- what Geoff Strange calls "one of our s t r e t c h e s." What we have here is a not a conspiracy, just an evaluation of several small cockups (old BT logo rotated clockwise through 90° to a tee). He is right though, a few more upside-down BT logos (absolute cockups) and we shall be looking at one great big balls-up (BT logo rotated through 270°).

I am sure that he will be doing his utmost to help the squad put things right collectively. A professional sportsmen will not last long in the game if he strays from positive thoughts and deeds. Rightfully Denzil leaves the remedy out of his notes. Perhaps his rumination was premedicated, not premeditated?

Certainly our backs have failed to acquit themselves of late. Denzil, like Paul Sampson, suffered at the hands of the Saints and he has had only one run out since, our narrow defeat away to Tigers (Psycho has all but disappeared). In the meantime Warren Gatland has tried a few other combinations at centre without us being able to shore up the midfield to any degree. As a consequence, Alex King has taken the brunt of the opposition's defensive offence, twice having had to leave the field with head injuries.

Waspies look back to Rob Henderson's final season with us with a warm glow. Here was a truly inspirational inside centre who was able to add another dimension to his game. His speed training allowed him to step onto the world stage for the Lions but he has played precious little football since.

Looking even further back into the past, Wasps have favoured the crash-ball specialist from time to time -- Fran Clough and Richard Cardus to name but two (sandwiching the less beefy, wiry and sometime international, Rob Lozowski). In his time, Cloughie earnt us our first win at the Rec. when no team dared to beat Bath on their cabbage patch. Sometimes it pays to have a direct runner at centre, particularly one who can draw the flack from a stand-off who has the second best penalty goal percentage in the ZP.

As for the pack, we are still without our captain, Lawrence Dallaglio, who is on a sin-bin suspension. Therein lies another of our weak points. Ill-discipline has cost us dearly during the past 15 months. Sort it out, please.

Also we were underpowered last week without LBND, Joe Worsley, Simon Shaw and Peter Scrivener. Perhaps it would have been wise to have played Mick McCarthy at lock and shuffled Richard Birkett and Mark Lock in the back row last weekend. Scrivs at least should be back to add backbone. Shawsie will have a fitness test but Worzle will take another week at least to return to the fold. The team will be announced on Saturday following several fitness tests.

Possible Wasps team: 15 CO; 14 Toothdoc, 13 Sonic, 12 Denzil (if not in Coventry) or Muddy, 11 Teflon; 10 Gizmo (if Kinga is out), 9 Stan; 1 Dowdy, 2 Sir Trev, 3 Mauler, 4 Birks, 5 Snake-eye Shawsie, 6 Lockupyerdaughters, 7 Volls, 8 Scrivs.

Leeds Tykes: 15 Dan Scarbrough; 14 Diego Albanese, 13 Tristan Davies, 12 Braam van Straaten, 11 Chris Hall; 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Alan Dickens; 1 Mike Shelley (Capt.), 2 Mark Regan, 3 Gavin Kerr, 4 Chris Murphy, 5 Tom Palmer, 6 Cameron Mather, 7 Dan Hyde, 8 Isaac Feaunati.

Bench: 16 Matt Holt, 17 Rob Rawlinson, 18 Stewart Campbell, 19 Carl Hogg, 20 Derek Hegarty, 21 Winston Stanley, 22 Craig Emmerson.