London Wasps vs London Irish

It has been a while since the Wasps fans have been treated to a high quality winning performance at Adams Park. I feel that this weekend will see the end of that long, patient wait.

 

Wasps , as previously mentioned, have had a successful summer with regards to bringing in new players. Dai Young is a man with integrity and his horrible first season is beginning to fade into the distance. They have put in two good, tryscoring performances so far this season, but have yet to win.

 

There is no doubting Wasps attacking potential, they just need to learn to be more direct rather than simply shipping the ball outwide everytime. Their intentions are to play rugby, but last week away at Bath they were up against a team who soaked up the pressure and hit Wasps when Bath had the ball.

 

Any team in the premiership would be happy with the second row players wasps have at their disposal. Wentzel,Palmer and Launchbury are all class lineout performers.They just need to address their lineout throwing which cost them a valuable lineout last week. Daly, Varndell, Wade will cause problems for defences all season. Southwell is paying very well from full back, and masi and bell are solid defensive support to this back line. Simpson and Robinson add a long range aerial threat, and Simpson is always going to be looking for gaps with which his pace will steal yards and ease pressure. The back row is led by Vunipola/Johnson carrying the ball from 8, with poff and Haskell defending and competing at the breakdowns. Though wasps will score tries, they are also going to be conceding them, which will make them interesting betting wise with regards to over/under match points and ov/un match tries scored bets.

 

London Irish are also yet to win a game this season. They lost 40-3 to Saracens, and then 31-40 at home to Gloucester last weekend. They lost a coach load of players in the summer, and have new coaches in Brian Smith and Shaun Edwards. The coaches have a lot of work to do, mainly with their defence. The London Irish pack does not instil much confidence, and will struggle to provide enough go forward ball for the London Irish backs to demonstrate their full potential. They will score tries, but at the moment they are going to struggle to not concede more than they can score.

 

The recent history of this fixture, shows that LI have not won one of their previous 5 games away to Wasps in the league. Wasps have won these 5 matches by the following margins: 5,8,11,5,14. Last season LI won only 2 games on the road, though wasps did manage to lose 6 of their 11 home games last season (but as said wasps are much improved upon last season). LI will be losing again at Adams Park this coming weekend.

 

There will be tries from both sides, and when the match points market is released, i will probably be posting another tip, as well as tips on anytime tryscorers for the likes of wade,varndell,ojo etc.

 

I see wasps gaining valuable yardage by Simpson and Vunipola/Johnson close to the rucks and scrums, and wasps to use their long range kicking options to pin LI back into LI territory.