Teams Up

[Neils]

Lee Blackett has named his Wasps side to host Exeter Chiefs in Gallagher Premiership Round Five on Saturday. 

There are nine changes to the starting 15 that beat Sale Sharks last time out.

Captain Joe Launchbury returns to form the second-row partnership with Will Rowlands.

James Gaskell switches to blindside flanker, where he is joined in the back row by the returning Jack Willis and brother Tom Willis.

Kieran Brookes comes back into the front row alongside Tom Cruse and Tom West.

In the back-line Dan Robson and Jacob Umaga return to form the half-back partnership.

Outside them, Paolo Odogwu switches to the wing in the absence of Zach Kibirige. Juan de Jongh takes Odogwu’s place at outside centre, with de Jongh in line to make his 50th Premiership appearance.

Lima Sopoaga starts at full-back once more and will make his 50th appearance for Wasps.

Wasps Head Coach, Lee Blackett, said: “We've got most of our internationals back this week, so that feels like an injection of energy coming back into the squad for this game.

“What a great challenge it is to take on the European and Premiership champions. That's something we're excited about.”

Wasps team to face Exeter Chiefs at Ricoh Arena on Saturday in Gallagher Premiership Round Five (kick-off 2:00pm)

Wasps (First-team appearances)

15 Lima Sopoaga (49)

14 Paolo Odogwu (14)

13 Juan de Jongh (62)

12 Michael Le Bourgeois (41)

11 Josh Bassett (133)

10 Jacob Umaga (33)

9 Dan Robson (126)

1 Tom West (40)

2 Tom Cruse (88)

3 Kieran Brookes (46)

4 Joe Launchbury (153) (c)

5 Will Rowlands (96)

6 James Gaskell (126)

7 Jack Willis (64)

8 Tom Willis (26)

 

Replacements

16 Tommy Taylor (75)

17 Simon McIntyre (175)

18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen (27)

19 Ben Morris (34)

20 Thomas Young (126)

21 Will Porter (23)

22 Charlie Atkinson (6)

23 Jimmy Gopperth (112)

[COYW15]

3 locks starting and 0 on the bench is interesting.

[Neils]

Sorry Ross I was on the main site looking for something and it popped up early.

[Rossm]

No worries Neil. I removed my duplicate post.

[Rossm]

And here's the oppo.

15 Tom O’Flaherty
14 Olly Woodburn
13 Tom Hendrickson
12 Ollie Devoto
11 Ian Whitten
10 Joe Simmonds MBE
9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
1 Alec Hepburn
2 Jack Yeandle (capt)
3 Marcus Street
4 Will Witty
5 Don Armand
6 Dave Ewers
7 Richard Capstick
8 Sam Simmonds

16 Jack Innard
17 James Kenny
18 Tomas Francis
19 Tom Price
20 Rus Tuima
21 Jack Maunder
22 Harvey Skinner
23 Josh Hodge

[JonnyD]

Strange selection with Gaskell at 6 and Morris and Young benched after playing so well recently - can only be to tighten up the lineout against Exeter and defend rolling mauls because his breakdown work often gets us in a lot of trouble.
Remember Morris trained a lot at lock when we had some injury woes there.

Good to see the internationals back as well as JdJ, probably not the side to test Sirker out but hope he gets a chance soon.
Atkinson and Gopperth on the bench doesn’t provide much impact and maybe shows the type of game we can expect.

[Steve from Cov]

Wasps squad looks strong despite there being a few backs still missing through injury.

Exeter squad doesn’t look quite as strong as it might?

[Neils]

Exeter team not at their fullest strength it looks like. Hogg is injured but no Gray or Skinner etc. (Skinner the forward).

[Shugs]

Interesting pick. Young must be due a break which is well warranted. Gives us more line out options I suppose. The shuffling of JdJ and Odogwu makes sense to me but the by-product is that we look a bit "under creative" at centre. Will just have to go wide quickly or have Lima distribute a bit. Very interesting and we do have good impact bench wise.

[wasps]

While I agree that he's getting older and is known for his defence, I think that JdJ has been underrated with ball in hand over the years.

He doesn't look like a live wire centre but is always available and on the shoulder when required

[13thWarrior]

One of the bigger teams we've fielded I suspect, especially in the backs. Looks like we're trying to deal with Exeter's power.

[hookender]

https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1060888236?-11081:2392

[Neils]

https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1060888236?-11081:2392

Bullsh1t

[hookender]

Not particularly confident on their board and betting odds for us have shortened

[wasps]

A lot needs to change before we're favourites - I certainly won't be betting the house on us