Well, this is it. What the season has been about. Ticket sales are still ticking over. West block looks sold, only a few tickets look to remain in North and East block, and maybe half of South Block is sold. Maybe 4000 tickets left then.
Notice I didn't title this post 'Players for Sarries game'? We have a lot of excellent players, but somehow for the last games, they haven't quite got it together as a team. It takes time for players to get to know each other and play off each other. Injuries have kept many out of the loop for too long (Haskell and Jones?). Newness has made it hard to settle (WLR and KB). WLR must have been playing pretty much non-stop now for well over a year. A tough ask.
We have mini teams of players that have to work well in certain plays. Scrums, mauls, lineouts, defensive line, kick receipt, and so on.
For example, scrum halves can only play well if the back row is working well in front of them and the 10 is tuned to them. Don't say Robson has a poor game, or doesn't start well. The mini team he is in isn't gelling well. For the Quins game, that was a mini team of:
Haskell, Young, Thompson, ROBSON and Gopperth.
There is talk that Ash will be back. Cipriani is now recovered. The fact is, Robson may well start, and he is best with Ash and Nathan (at least) in front of him and Cipriani outside him. So would that mini team be:
Johnson, Thompson, Hughes, ROBSON and Cipriani.
With maybe Jones (if he is fit again), Haskell and Simpson on the bench for that mini team?
The Front five pack mini team was clearly disrupted in the Quins game by Symons dropping out at the last minute. I can see this mini team being the same:
Mullan, Taylor, Swainston, Launchbury and Symons,
with the same bench support (less Cruse):
McIntyre, Cooper-Woolley and Myall
In the backs, whilst Kurtley Beale has done some good work at 12, he doesn't seem to gell with Daly outside him, nor with Wade cutting inside. But at 15 he has been great. So that's where I would put him. With him, Wade and WLR as the kick receiving mini team, we have looked very dangerous. Remember, Sarries do a lot of that.
So that's my 11, 14 and 15. And that leaves the centre backs, 12 and 13, and the bench for them.
In good conscience, I cannot leave Gopperth out. He has not done so well at 10, but at 12 he has been stellar. More importantly, he seems to be on the same wavelength as Daly, and in free play with WLR, KB and Wade. He is good in defence also.
The last two places on the bench? Leiua and who else? Miller or Bassett? Or Macken or .... ? I don't know.
3 points or more gets us a home semi final for sure. I can see Exeter walking their game against Glaws. Glaws fell apart last weekend, and they will be focussed on their European game, so will rest players. So Exeter have a home SF pretty much 'in the bag' (famous last words).
A big game to come. Let's hope that the Wasps that run out on to that pitch can step up and play as a team, and that means those mini teams need to work. Remember that when you are picking your fantasy team. Look at the mini teams and ask yourself if they will work.
Oh, and who for captain? I get no vote in that, but for me it has to be someone who will be firm but not too noisy with the ref. Too often I wonder if that is Joe, and I am not sure it is. Jimmy just seems to see the game and its flow. For me he is the right choice.
But, what do I know? Only what I see. But I do see a lot sitting up there in the stands, far more than can be seen watching on TV.
I ache for Wasps to win, truly I do. #COYW