The European Cup is an odd one. In one sense, it is always great to see the
best of each country facing off against one another, with the game becoming –
according to the press at least – some sort of mini international contest,
stirring up all sorts of nationalistic urges and borderline-racist ‘banter’. However, when two clubs from the same country
face off in the European Cup, the temptation would be to think that those tribal
rivalries have disappeared – after all these teams do play each other at least
twice a year, every year, in domestic competition. But that’s not how it works. With the goal of winning the ultimate club
competition, some of the most ferocious contests I’ve seen have been between two
English, or two Irish sides. Take Wasps
v Leicester in 2005/06. Leicester won
two epic encounters but it was the fact that Dallaglio emerged from both
battles claiming that very, very few test matches had had the same level of
intensity as those two games. And they
were just in the group stage.
What cranks up the heat even more on this fixture, Quins v
Wasps, is the fact that both sides are still very much in the hunt for a place
in the knockout stages. Harlequins sit
pretty on top of Pool Two, but Wasps are just a point behind. And with Leinster also in the hunt (level on
points with Quins but down on points difference), it’s clear that this
encounter is simply a must win game for both sides. Before last weekend, a lot had been made of
Wasps resurgence this year and of Harlequins’ fall from grace, but a heavy
defeat and an emphatic victory in their last fixtures has probably thrown the
form book out the window for this one.
What we do know is that both these sides love to play
physical, fast rugby, with offloads creating plenty of momentum through the
middle. The only difference between the
ex-London-neighbours is that whereas Wasps like to get teams backpeddling so
they can fling it wide to the likes of Wade and Varndell to finish, Quins
simply keep ploughing through the middle, keeping the ball off the ground as
much as possible in an effort to pull the opposition defence into disarray. Both styles involve plenty of skill and
plenty of slick handling, which makes this a tasty encounter for the neutral.
Although there won’t be too many of them around at the Stoop
on Saturday night.
Harlequins make two changes from the side which beat Leicester
Tigers last weekend. Tom Williams
starts on the wing in place of Ugo Monye, while Will Collier comes in at
tight-head for Kyle Sinckler. Charlie
Walker and Nick Evans return to the bench.
Starting Line up: Brown;
Yarde, Hopper, Lowe, Williams, Botica, Care; Marler (capt), Gray, Collier,
Matthews, Robson, Clifford, Robshaw, Easter.
Subs: Buchanan,
Lambert, Sinckler, Twomey, Chisholm, Dickson, Evans, Walker
Key Player
Ben Botica. With Tim
Swiel doing a great job of filling in for the injured Nick Evans and Botica, it
was perhaps a surprise that the Kiwi walked straight back into the starting
line-up for last week’s crunch encounter with the Tigers. But Botica was superb, controlling the game
well, kicking intelligently and bringing in his wider players through smooth
distribution. His one vice is that he
can occasionally crumple under pressure, and with an ultra-physical back row of
Johnson, Haskell and Hughes hunting him down all evening, he will need to keep
his cool if he is to control the Quins ship as well as he did last weekend.
Wasps Team News
For Dai Young’s Wasps, Tom Varndell returns, with Sailosi
Tagicakibau unavailable with a hamstring strain. Elliot Daly, who starts at 13, is back-up
scrum-half as all the club's nines, aside from the starting Joe Simpson, are
out through injury.
Starting Line
up: Miller; Wade, Daly, Leiua,
Varndell; Goode, Simpson; Mullan, Shervington, Cittadini, Davies, Myall,
Johnson, Haskell (capt), Hughes.
Subs: Festuccia,
McIntyre, Cooper-Woolley, Gaskell, Thompson, Jacobs, Lozowski, Masi.
Key Player
Alapati Leiua. The
inside centre has been a bit of an unsung hero for Wasps, but fans of the
now-Coventry-based outfit will know that this is a player who has been a large
part of their success this season. In
recent years, Wasps have had pace but a lack of punch in the middle, but Leiua
provides raw power with mesmerising footwork and is a real threat going
forward. He does, occasionally, isolate
himself in defence but what he brings to the side with the ball in hand far
outweighs any negatives. If he can
outmuscle Lowe and Hopper and win the gainline battle in the middle of the park,
then Wasps will have a real shot at getting that crucial win.
Key Battle
Nick Easter v Nathan Hughes.
In truth, these are probably the two form number eights in England at the
moment (although Tom Waldrom may have something to say about that). Easter has been playing well in an
under-achieving team all season, but his display against the Tigers last week
was nothing short of monumental. Yes, he
was a menace at the breakdown but it was in the carry, where he seems to be
able to offload out of any sort of contact, where he was so, so difficult to
defend. Of course, he’s up against
Hughes – arguably Wasps’ player of the season so far – and, being raised in
Fiji, the Wasps’ man has the same instinct and carries exactly the same kind of
threat. It makes for physical, fluid
rugby – and whoever gets their hands on the ball the most will go along way to
determining the outcome of this one.
Prediction
Up until last weekend it would have been a tight game ending
up with a Wasps win, given the form of the two clubs. But the way Quins dismantled Leicester and,
equally, the way Wasps were run ragged in the first half against Bath, served
as a reminder that there is a lot of uncertainty in this game. One thing that is for certain is that we should
see a high-paced, physical and entertaining encounter, but given last week’s
results I’m going to lean towards the hosts picking up a critical victory which
should see them through to the last 8. Quins by 4.
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