Team's up

[MarleyWasp]

Wasps:

Wasps team to face London Irish on Saturday
DATE: 4 JUN 2021

Lee Blackett has named his Wasps side to travel to The Brentford Community Stadium and take on London Irish in the penultimate round of the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday.

There are three changes to the starting line-up that played Northampton Saints last time out.

Kieran Brookes returns from injury to start at tighthead, alongside front row pair Tom West and Gabriel Oghre.

Marcus Watson starts his first game of the season on the wing, as he replaces the injured Zach Kibirige. Watson is joined in the back three by fellow winger Josh Bassett and full-back Charlie Atkinson.

The only other change to the backline sees Juan de Jongh come in for the injured Paolo Odogwu. Michael Le Bourgeois is inside him at 12, with Malakai Fekitoa still unavailable with a calf injury.

Brad Shields captains the side at blindside flanker, Tom Willis starts at number eight and Thomas Young completes the unchanged back row at openside flanker.

The second-row pairing of James Gaskell and Will Rowlands and the half-back partnership of Dan Robson and Jacob Umaga are also unchanged.

There are no changes amongst the replacements; Tom Cruse, Simon McIntyre, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Tim Cardall, Sione Vailanu, Ben Vellacott, Jimmy Gopperth and Rob Miller are all named in reserve.

Wasps team to face London Irish at The Brentford Community Stadium on Saturday in Gallagher Premiership Round 21 (kick-off 4:30pm)

Wasps (First-team appearances)

15 Charlie Atkinson (16)
14 Marcus Watson (50)
13 Juan de Jongh (65)
12 Michael Le Bourgeois (57)
11 Josh Bassett (148)
10 Jacob Umaga (48)
9 Dan Robson (135)

1 Tom West (53)
2 Gabriel Oghre (44)
3 Kieran Brookes (57)
4 Will Rowlands (111)
5 James Gaskell (139)
6 Brad Shields (51) (c)
7 Thomas Young (139)
8 Tom Willis (39)

Replacements

16 Tom Cruse (97)
17 Simon McIntyre (182)
18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen (43)
19 Tim Cardall (28)
20 Sione Vailanu (30)
21 Ben Vellacott (19)
22 Jimmy Gopperth (126)
23 Rob Miller (124)

Unavailable due to injury: Alfie Barbeary (Hamstring), Malakai Fekitoa (Calf), Lasha Jaiani (Pectoral), Zach Kibirige (Ankle), Joe Launchbury (ACL), Ryan Mills (Foot), Matteo Minozzi (Eye), Paolo Odogwu (ACL), Will Simonds (Groin), Sam Spink (Groin), Theo Vukasinovic (Achilles), Jack Willis (PCL/MCL).

London Irish:

15 Tom Parton, 14 James Stokes, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nic Groom, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 Adam Coleman, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson, 7 Blair Cowan (c), 8 Albert Tuisue.

Replacements:
16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 George Nott, 20 Sean O’Brien, 21 Jack Cooke, 22 Rory Brand, 23 Jacob Atkins.

[COYW15]

Useful that they’ve included an injury list - not something we usually do is it?

[baldpaul101]

Its as good as its gonna get given the injuries, should be enough but who knows this season!

slight typo on the Irish squad, Ollie Hoskins will have to come on & replace himself 

[Steve from Cov]

Strong squad selection under the circumstances.

I probably would have selected Alo over JTA but it’s a very strong bench.

[Neils]

Useful that they’ve included an injury list - not something we usually do is it?

It's fairly regular just not every match. But it can be confusing when players are left off for periods.

[Heathen]

That's pretty decent 23. Just hope that there are no brain farts. We need 80+ minutes of total focus.

[MarleyWasp]

Its as good as its gonna get given the injuries, should be enough but who knows this season!

slight typo on the Irish squad, Ollie Hoskins will have to come on & replace himself 

The graphic on Twitter has Lovejoy Chawatama as the replacement.

[mike909]

That's pretty decent 23. Just hope that there are no brain farts. We need 80+ minutes of total focus.

Agree - good 23 - I'd take 80 mins of decent focus.......

[Shugs]

Quite fancy us to beat Irish. I wonder how long Kibirige has been carrying that injury. Tuisue is a big unit for them but he's frequently naive defensively - maybe something for us to exploit.

[JonnyD]

Not wanting to start a ‘Callum Sirker is the messiah’ post but he must be getting a little annoyed - wait all this time for a winger to get injured, with Minozzi and Odogwu out as well and then Watson comes back from injury.

[andermt]

Zack hasn't looked fully fit in recent matches, looked to be slower than I remember him being.

[Heathen]

Zack hasn't looked fully fit in recent matches, looked to be slower than I remember him being.

Just hope that Marcus does last the full 80. How many minutes has he played this season?

[JonnyD]

Zack hasn't looked fully fit in recent matches, looked to be slower than I remember him being.

Just hope that Marcus does last the full 80. How many minutes has he played this season?

0

[MarleyWasp]

Zack hasn't looked fully fit in recent matches, looked to be slower than I remember him being.

Just hope that Marcus does last the full 80. How many minutes has he played this season?

12 minutes as a replacement against Bath at the Rec in January. He then got injured again.

[Mellie]

When everyone is available that's probably 5/8 starting forwards, 2/2 starting half backs but only 1/5 starting outside backs.