Teams Up for Clermont

[Rossm]

 Lee Blackett has named his Wasps side to host ASM Clermont Auvergne at Ricoh Arena in the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 on Saturday.

The fixture will be Wasps’ 100th competitive match at Ricoh Arena, since the Club moved from Adams Park in 2014.

There are three changes to the starting line-up from last time out.

Jacob Umaga returns at fly-half to make his Champions Cup debut.

Paolo Odogwu starts on the right wing to make his first start since returning from England Six Nations duty.

The only alteration in the pack sees James Gaskell return to action at blindside flanker, with Brad Shields moving to number eight to take Alfie Barbeary’s place, who is out with a calf injury. 

There is also a welcome return for Tom Willis, who is named amongst the replacements. He is joined on the bench by Sione Vailanu, Zach Kibirige and Jimmy Gopperth, who could make his 50th European appearance.   

Wasps team to face ASM Clermont Auvergne at Ricoh Arena on Saturday in the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 (kick-off 12:30pm)

Wasps (First-team appearances)

15 Matteo Minozzi (30)

14 Paolo Odogwu (17)

13 Malakai Fekitoa (31)

12 Michael Le Bourgeois (52)

11 Josh Bassett (142)

10 Jacob Umaga (42)

9 Dan Robson (129)

1 Ben Harris (76)

2 Tommy Taylor (85)

3 Kieran Brookes (53)

4 Joe Launchbury (157) (c)

5 Will Rowlands (105)

6 James Gaskell (135)

7 Thomas Young (133)

8 Brad Shields (45)

Replacements

16 Gabriel Oghre (38)

17 Jack Owlett (11)

18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen (38)

19 Sione Vailanu (27)

20 Tom Willis (35)

21 Sam Wolstenholme (18)

22 Jimmy Gopperth (123)

23 Zach Kibirige (41)

   

[Rossm]

Clermont have named a near full strength side

[Neils]

Interesting selection. Alfie looked off last week so no surprise.  Booj over Jimmy is Interesting although Booj has been solid recently.  Still think it could be a difficult day tomorrow.

[JonnyD]

A good opportunity to get Jacob back involved without much pressure and Zack probably needed a break and some pressure on his place with Paolo back.
Big Clermont side so hope this doesn’t kill off our front five with injuries - replacements will need to be managed well I think.
Gaskell to the back row again for a bigger pack and four very good lineout options in interesting

[Neils]

Clermont have named a near full strength side

Ouch! And their bench doesn't actually give any relief.

[Rossm]

backdoc made a suggestion that Alfie is not fully match fit after his injury.

[Shugs]

Glad to see Jacob back. Gaskell was effective at six against Exeter. Looks like we'll be asking Harris to go the full 80 again which will be difficult. I'd have been tempted to play Gopperth at 12. Does anyone know if Miller is injured or on paternity leave. I find his continued omission baffling.

[Neils]

backdoc made a suggestion that Alfie is not fully match fit after his injury.

Didn't look it fromvthe off last week. The boy should listen to the more conservative medics and play himself in slowly.

[JonnyD]

backdoc made a suggestion that Alfie is not fully match fit after his injury.

This is probably the kind of game that Barbeary and Atkinson probably aren’t quite ready for yet. Could see Barbeary’s exuberance getting him injured

[Rossm]

backdoc made a suggestion that Alfie is not fully match fit after his injury.

BB says that Alfie misses out after picking up a calf injury.

[HDAWG]

Clermont have named a near full strength side

This will not be a close game....

[loverugby1979]

Nothing to lose.

Enjoy and play.

We'll really miss Alfie and West

[backdoc]

backdoc made a suggestion that Alfie is not fully match fit after his injury.

BB says that Alfie misses out after picking up a calf injury.

When the diastasis is fixed, you avoid/minimise dorsiflexion of the ankle as this forces the bones apart again.

It takes a while to restore the full range of dorsiflexion [needed in a sport where the ball can be on the ground] and tearing your calf is what happens if you force it - I am assuming it is the same leg!!!

[Shugs]

Bit worrying if our medical team weren't advising caution if the calf tear is a common instance as described. Alfie is the type who needs protecting from himself sometimes.

[backdoc]

Shugs, I was involved in the surgery to a well known Chelsea and England captain a few years back.

After the operation the media circus would have had him playing again 4 days after the surgery.

My recommendation was return to full training at 6 weeks and contact at 8 weeks etc etc. The risk was that he had a degree of nerve injury which meant his ankle control was compromised.

The pressure to play was too great and he played at 6 weeks. He sprained his ankle and was out for another x weeks.