Preview: Wasps v Irish Friendly

Wasps welcome close friends, London Irish, as we go into our eleventh season at Adams Park. The weather forecast may look a little bleak but what of the season's portents?

Ten years ago Wasps were Premiership champions after Warren Gatland and his men's grand larceny, having trounced Gloucester 39-3 in the first play-off decider to count. What will forever be a total travesty to the Cherry and Whites' supoorters is now part of the Premiership furniture today.

Warren Gatland's philosophy was simple and effective. Prepare well in short, sharp bursts, and time your run to perfection. The same ethos carried the day on the Lions' tour only two months ago!

So, what about Wasps? Ten years seems like ancient history. A time when we had several players away in Australia on World Cup duty until late November but, ultimately, we defended our Premiership crown and won our first Heineken Cup, to boot!

Last season, much needed stabilisation off the field heralded a much better show on the field. With two months to go, the team's winning run even hinted at European Cup qualification and an unlikely return to the play-offs.

Sadly a few knocks to a small squad, retirements and impending departures took the gloss off the perfomances and led to a mid-table finish. Perhaps the intense pre-season preparation took its toll, too.

Dai Young will have learned a lot about Premiership football over the past two seasons. Let's see what fruits that experience will bring during 2013/14...

London Wasps squad:

Backs from: Andrea Masi, Andy Goode, Ben Jacobs, Charlie Davies, Charlie Hayter, Christian Wade, Elvis Seveali'i, Joe Carlisle, Joe Simpson, Josh Bassett, Tom Varndell, Tommy Bell.

Forwards from: Alec Hepburn, Ed Jackson, Guy Thompson, Jake Cooper-Wooley, James Cannon, Kearnan Myall, Matt Everard, Matt Mullan, Neil Cochrane, Rory Pitman, Sam Jones (Capt.), Taione Vea, Tom Lindsay, Tom Palmer, Will Taylor.

London Irish:

15. Tom Homer; 14. Andrew Fenby, 13. Guy Armitage, 12. Eamonn Sheridan, 11. Sailosi Tagicakibau;10. Ian Humphreys, 9. Pat Phibbs; 1. Matt Parr, 2. David Paice, 3. Halani Aulika, 4. George Skivington (Capt.), 5. Bryn Evans, 6. Kieran Low, 7. Declan Danaher, 8. Jon Fisher.

Bench
16. Jimmy Stevens, 17. Jonny Harris, 18. Jamie Hagan, 19. Nic Rouse, 20. Gerard Ellis, 21. Myles Dorrian, 22. Shane Geraghty, 23. Tomás O’Leary, 24. Chris Hala’ufia, 25. Darren Allinson, 26. Fergus Mulchrone, 27. Alex Lewington, 28. Topsy Ojo.

Welcome back George!