HARLEQUINS v WASPS: MATCH PREVIEW

 It's been a funny couple of weeks. On Boxing Day, in front of thirty thousand people at the home of English football, Strictly Come Dancing's Gavin Henson braved the travel chaos to make a personal appearance for his several adoring fans and the beady, strangely colour-saturated cameras of Sky. Bizarrely, however, someone had seen fit to schedule a rugby match at the same time.

Fortunately the thirty or so players involved in the match recognised the grandeur of the occasion and did their best not to interrupt Gavin's big day. A moment of youthful impetuosity by Andy Saull apart, the rugby passed without notice, and hardly impinged upon the proceedings at all. Which is just as well, probably, because a man called Edward had been advertising the appearance of Strictly Come Dancing's Gavin Henson for weeks, and wouldn't have been happy, one imagines, had the event been hijacked by a load of blokes running around throwing and kicking a ball. There's more than enough of that sort of thing at Wembley as it is.

Those of us who braved the elements for this brief glimpse of the almost mythical Welshman were rewarded by the sight of him actually deciding to join in the rugby match. Needless to say, this improved the spectacle immensely. Complicated skills that had seemed, as we caught sight of the ongoing match from the corners of our eyes, beyond the thirty men running around on the greensward – skills such as catching, jumping and throwing – immediately became child's play to the twinkle-toed, bemuscled star of the BBC's flagship celebrities-in-lycra programme. Gavin could do it all. Such was his animal magnetism, the side called Wasps immediately threw the ball to him and proceeded to hug him as he fell to the turf. Ordinarily such hero-worship would be anathema to the stiff-upper-lipped Brit, but in this case we could understand the sentiment. This was, after all, Strictly Come Dancing's Gavin Henson. Multiple replays followed as the team from Sky fed the crowd's voracious demand for images of Gavin being enveloped by his adoring public.

Buoyed by this clear demonstration of the synergy between rugby and celebrity, last week a few thousand people made a pilgrimage to Adams Park to watch the aforementioned Wasps team take on Newcastle Falcons. Sadly, all they got on this occasion was the rugby. It was clear, however, that Gavin's expertise had rubbed off on the home team. They caught the ball. They won line-outs. They ran around and scored tries – evidently this is what happens when you're not famous enough to be hugged by the opposing team when you fall over. In fact, the team called Wasps, according to those in the know, dominated the game, and it was a mystery how they failed to score four tries. Without Gavin the atmosphere was obviously a little muted, but it was an intriguing occasion for all that. People talked of coming back and watching the team called Wasps again. Do they play here all the time, they wondered? The regulars scoffed – of course they do, they said. Where else would they play? Abu Dhabi?

This weekend Wasps are in action again, taking on Harlequins at the Stoop. Harlequins, like Wasps, don't have anybody of the magnitude of Gavin Henson appearing at their games, but it promises to be an enthralling match nevertheless. Last week saw Quins record their first Premiership away win for over a year, a fact rendered even more stupendous by the knowledge that they did it at Franklin's Gardens, home of the runaway league leaders. Yes, Northampton were a bit ring-rusty after a couple of weeks without a match, but it was still a fully deserved victory by a Harlequins side who tackled everything on the gain-line, matched the much-vaunted Saints scrum shove for shove, and managed a period during which they were down to thirteen men with aplomb. No doubt about it, this Saturday they'll be as confident as Alastair Cook facing an over from Mitchell Johnson.

Wasps have a decent record against Harlequins, with fifteen wins and nine losses in the Premiership. At the Stoop, the four matches since Quins' return to the top flight have seen two wins apiece, Wasps winning in 2006/7 and squeaking through by one point last season. It's never an easy match for a Wasps fan to watch – in part because people seem to be walking along in front of you every ten seconds, but also because these are never less than full-blooded encounters. Both sides might well be trailing Saracens in the league, finance and celebrity stakes at the moment, but for this supporter Wasps against Harlequins is the London derby (loosely speaking nowadays, of course).

Like Wasps of yore, Quins are building a squad full of young English players who, if they can keep them together, will surely only get stronger and stronger. The back-row in particular is a key area of strength. Last week's starting trio of Nick Easter, Chris Robshaw and Tom Guest is surely one of the most effective in the Premiership. Guided expertly by Nick Evans at fly-half and cajoled by England number nine Danny Care, with an underrated (certainly on last week's evidence) front five and players like Mike Brown and the impressive George Lowe adding to the roster, the only weak element in Quins' game would seem to be their inconsistency. Like Wasps, the Twickenham's side's form has been as patchy as prop Joe Marler's hairdo. Which means that this weekend's game could turn out to be a feast of rugby, or it could be a complete wash-out.

The game against Saracens apart, Wasps have got into a winning habit of late. The Newcastle game, however, still highlighted some issues. The lack of try-scoring bonus points this season is indicative of a team that doesn't always take its chances. Concentration occasionally drops and the opposition finds its way back into the game. Early season inconsistency might appear, at face value, to have been banished, but it's still there, albeit within the microcosm of a single game. Witness the home Heineken Cup match against Dragons. Three-all at half time, Wasps came out for the second half transformed, scoring four tries and securing a much-needed bonus point. But why did it take forty minutes to find the ON switch? Maybe this is nitpicking but there are still times during a match when it seems as though the team has switched off, taken its foot off the pedal. Consistency of results might well be coming, but the next step must surely be consistency of performance throughout the game. Only then can Wasps, like Harlequins last week, compete with the Northamptons of this world.

It should be a good old scrap on Saturday. Defence, currently a strong suit of both sides, will be a key element of the match. Winning the gain-line battles, providing a strong set-piece platform – these things will go a long way to deciding the outcome of what is generally a keenly fought contest. Don't be surprised to see a few bouts of fisticuffs along the way. And while these might not be the fashionable, headline-grabbing things in rugby at the moment, and might not appeal to blokes called Edward, I've come to the conclusion that they're much more important than permatanned Welshmen. Celebrity is definitely overrated.

Allez Wasps!