Team's up

[matelot22]

Wasps team to play Saracens

 Wasps’ Director of Rugby Dai Young has named the side to travel to Allianz Park on Sunday to face reigning European Champions Saracens.

 Willie le Roux returns at full back, with Rob Miller moving to fly half in the absence of Jimmy Gopperth who picked up an injury against Bath last weekend.

 Up front, it’s a re-shuffled pack. Ashley Johnson starts at hooker, Marty Moore at tighthead and Matt Mullan, who will also captain the side, at loosehead. With a five-day turn-around between Saracens and Ulster in the European Champions Cup at the Kingspan Stadium on Friday evening, Joe Launchbury is rested as a precaution following a knock picked up last weekend, having already played every game for Wasps this season.

 Will Rowlands and Marcus Garratt form the second row pairing, with Garratt in line to make his Premiership debut. James Gaskell returns from injury to take a place on the bench, as does Dan Robson at scrum half.

 James Haskell, Thomas Young and Jack Willis form Wasps back row. Nathan Hughes is recovering from the dead leg sustained against Bath. Willis, who was promoted from Wasps Senior Academy squad this season, is joined in the match day squad by his younger brother Tom, a current member of Wasps Senior Academy, who will provide back row cover on the bench.

 Ahead of the trip to Allianz Park, Dai Young said: “All sides will go through periods where they’re missing a number of front line players and we’ve hit that period early on in the season, but it’s what building a quality squad is about.

“I have faith in every player in our squad that they will do a really good job for us every time they wear the Wasps’ shirt. It’s a good opportunity for some of our younger guys coming through to show what they can against one of the toughest opponents in Europe.

“We also have a couple of guys returning from injury which is great to see. We will give it everything we have against a quality Saracens side and look to put right the areas of our performance we haven’t been happy with over the past couple of weeks.”

Wasps team to play Saracens

 15. Willie Le Roux
 14. Marcus Watson
 13. Elliot Daly
 12. Brendan Macken
 11. Josh Bassett
 10. Rob Miller
 9. Joe Simpson
 1. Matt Mullan ©
2. Ashley Johnson
 3. Marty Moore
 4. Marcus Garratt
 5. Will Rowlands
 6. James Haskell
 7. Jack Willis
 8. Thomas Young

 16. Tom Cruse
 17. Ben Harris
 18. Jake Cooper-Woolley
 19. James Gaskell
 20. Tom Willis
 21. Dan Robson
 22. Juan De Jongh
 23. Christian Wade

A few eyebrow raisers for me there, but I suppose we are where we are and have few options.

[Rossm]

Apart from everything else, the 5 day turn around before Ulster makes things very awkward.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

We are where we are at. No depth at 10 or 15 or 8, not much depth anywhere else.
23 out of a (fit) squad of 27.

I don't think Dai had many choices to make.

[Rifleman Harris]

I'm not sure it is a lack of depth..just a lot of injuries.  It would hard to keep 3 top flight players in each position, but then 2 injuries at fly half and we are stretched at full back too. It's a damned tricky place to be. I just hope it isn't too much of a cricket score!

[petros]

Who's left who is fit?

Lundberg- not yet match fit
Hampson
?

[coddy]

Congrats to the Willis brothers.

Other than that this is one to miss and look forward to Ulster.

[Brandnewtorugby]

I don't agree this is one to miss. I am really looking forward to seeing how these players get on against a very strong team. We are very much the underdogs because of the huge number of changes in one go, depth of injury losses and poor recent form but at least that removes some pressure of expectation. This is the moment many of those players have been waiting for, I am sure they will give a good account of themselves and no matter what result I will be supporting them all the way.

In particular I have wanted to see Miller at 10 again for a while now and here is an opportunity for him to experience serious opposition and we can see how he gets on and how far away he is.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

If some of the experienced players can step up this might not be the pasting I dread it being.  I'm not worried about us losing it, but I'd like to see some of the new faces make a mark and do what Daly, Launch, Jones et al did a few years ago.

[wasps]

It's the kind of fixture that'll show which players have the fighting spirit and mental strength to allow them to push their career onwards.

Hopefully the locks and the lads in the back row take the opportunity to learn