Teams Up for Quins.

[Rossm]

Lee Blackett has named his side to face Harlequins at the Coventry Building Society Arena in Gallagher Premiership Round Eight on Sunday.

There are four personnel changes from the win against Bath last week.

At scrum-half Will Porter comes in for Dan Robson, who misses out with a groin injury. He forms the half-back partnership with Jacob Umaga.

Jimmy Gopperth is not risked after his head injury last week, so Michael Le Bourgeois switches to inside centre and Alex McHenry comes into the team at 13.

The only other change to the backline sees Ali Crossdale come in at full back for Marcus Watson. Crossdale is joined by Zach Kibirige and Josh Bassett in the back three.

It is the same starting pack that faced the blue, black and whites, with the only exception being Nizaam Carr, who comes in for Thomas Young at openside flanker. 

Joining Carr in the back-row are captain Brad Shields and Tom Willis. Bomber Hislop returns from Scotland international duty this week to start at loosehead prop, with last weekend’s milestone-men Gabriel Oghre and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen making up the front row.

Elliott Stooke and Vaea Fifita link up as the second-row pairing once more.

On the bench, Michael van Vuuren and Zac Nearchou keep their places after making their Wasps debuts last week. Young returns from Wales international duty this week, with Elliot Millar-Mills and Tim Cardall the other forwards in reserve. Francois Hougaard, Tommy Mathews and Watson are the backs replacements. 

Wasps team to face Harlequins at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Sunday (kick-off 4:30pm)

Wasps (First-team appearances) 

15 Ali Crossdale (6)

14 Zach Kibirige (53)

13 Alex McHenry (2)

12 Michael Le Bourgeois (63)

11 Josh Bassett (155)

10 Jacob Umaga (55)

9 Will Porter (34)

1 Robin Hislop (6)

2 Gabriel Oghre (50)

3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen (50)

4 Vaea Fifita (5)

5 Elliott Stooke (6)

6 Brad Shields (58) (c)

7 Nizaam Carr (60)

8 Tom Willis (46)

Replacements

16 Michael van Vuuren (1)

17 Zac Nearchou (1)

18 Elliot Millar-Mills (2)

19 Tim Cardall (34)

20 Thomas Young (144)

21 Francois Hougaard (2)

22 Tommy Mathews (1)

23 Marcus Watson (57)

Unavailable (18): Charlie Atkinson, Tom Cruse, Malakai Fekitoa, James Gaskell, Jimmy Gopperth, Ben Harris, Joe Launchbury, Rob Miller, Ryan Mills, Matteo Minozzi, Ben Morris, Paolo Odogwu, Dan Robson, Will Simonds, Sam Spink, Theo Vukasinovic, Tom West, Jack Willis.


Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Rob Warburton & Paul Dix
TMO: Stuart Terheege
Citing Officer: Brian Campsall

[Neils]

Much as expected I think. No real surprises in that selection.

[Rossm]

QUINS
1. Santiago Garcia Botta
2. Jack Walker
3. Will Collier
4. Matt Symons
5. Dino Lamb
6. James Chisholm
7. Jack Kenningham
8. Tom Lawday
9. Danny Care - Captain
10. Will Edwards
11. Cadan Murley
12. Andre Esterhuizen
13. Luke Northmore
14. Nick David
15. Tyrone Green

Impact Players
16. Jack Musk
17. Simon Kerrod
18. Wilco Louw
19. Hugh Tizard
20. Stephan Lewies
21. Scott Steele
22. Lennox Anyanwu
23. Oscar Beard

[Steve from Cov]

Stronger Wasps selection than thought previously.

Not sure how strong Harlequins selection is. Any thoughts?

[JonnyD]

If Carr and Shields get hold of Estherhuizen early and then northmore and green don’t hit too many gaps in the 13 channel I think we have a very good chance here.

[HDAWG]

Quins depth at 10 being tested without Smith or Allan, I suspect it'll be closer than expected. I'd argue our 9 &10 collectively are better than theirs. Hoping Porter has learned from the last time he was against Care and was shown how little he knew then. I reckon Porter in particular showing some form last week will give Quins a run for their money this week.

But also some of our players desperately need rotation.

[Jac A]

Not sure how strong Harlequins selection is. Any thoughts?

I'd say they have 7 first choice starters in the team.

Front row is decent but obviously Marler is a big loss to them in the scrum, defence and leadership. On the bench they have a TH covering LH and a rookie hooker in Musk who hasn't had any game time this season (AFAIK). That said, not very different to our options here...

No Dombrant so both Chisholm and Lawday - I don't think they're any less of a carrying threat but fewer offloads.

Will Edwards at 10 the big unknown - obvious former England 7s player has looked ok in the couple of games he has played was wasn't used much as a distributer last week when Allen went off so will be interesting to see if they play more of 9 on Sunday.

12 and 13 very good as are their back 3, I don't know that much about their outside backs on the bench.

I did hear some criticism of Care's captaincy last week too and wonder if that might curtail some of his usual quick play - esp with a very different 10 outside him.

I'd agree with JonnyD that if we can cover their centres and not allow them to run the ball back - their back three are all quick and able to step well - we have a decent chance and it should be a good game.

Our front row may have to go as close to the 80 as they can and then everyone can have two weeks off.

[Raggs]

Marler, Smith, Allen and Marchant are huge misses for them. Hopefully we can take advantage of that. Given their form, I don't think it's unreasonable to mark this one down as one of the few acceptable home losses, but given their missing players (and ignoring ours!) we've got a chance of flipping this one to a win for sure.

[Steve from Cov]

Not sure how strong Harlequins selection is. Any thoughts?

I'd say they have 7 first choice starters in the team.

Front row is decent but obviously Marler is a big loss to them in the scrum, defence and leadership. On the bench they have a TH covering LH and a rookie hooker in Musk who hasn't had any game time this season (AFAIK). That said, not very different to our options here...

No Dombrant so both Chisholm and Lawday - I don't think they're any less of a carrying threat but fewer offloads.

Will Edwards at 10 the big unknown - obvious former England 7s player has looked ok in the couple of games he has played was wasn't used much as a distributer last week when Allen went off so will be interesting to see if they play more of 9 on Sunday.

12 and 13 very good as are their back 3, I don't know that much about their outside backs on the bench.

I did hear some criticism of Care's captaincy last week too and wonder if that might curtail some of his usual quick play - esp with a very different 10 outside him.

I'd agree with JonnyD that if we can cover their centres and not allow them to run the ball back - their back three are all quick and able to step well - we have a decent chance and it should be a good game.

Our front row may have to go as close to the 80 as they can and then everyone can have two weeks off.

Thanks Jac A.

Sunday’s match might be closer than I thought. I agree that some of our starters will be knackered but expected to hang on for as long as possible.

Not sure we have a back-up goal kicker? Is this where the game is going to be won and lost?

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Like others I think that keeping Esterhuizen out of the game is going to be key to giving us a fighting chance. That said, the EAs managed it after about 15 mins and that didn't stop Green starring.

Keeping Care as captain seems strange given last week's performance, but perhaps they don't have anyone capable? I don't think we can rely on him making so many tactical and strategic errors, and he's still a very good scrum half (I wouldn't complain (too much) if he'd been picked for England but that's for another thread).

We've had an 8 day turn-around which I suppose helps a tad, but I still think we're 2nd favourites, but not by as much as we were against Chiefs, so maybe we are in with a chance.

I'm looking forward to this one with hope rather than dread.

[Brandnewtorugby]

If Wasps can click then this could be fun. I hope Jacob brings his kicking boots and kicks like nobody is watching. I am pleased for Will Porter, he has shown up Francois Hougaard a bit recently. Hopefully it is just a case of Francois learning the team and recovering form after injury, seem to remember him being a menace against us when playing for Worcester.

[MartinB - Radnage Wasp]

I hope this is not an oversight but Alfie is not mentioned as being unavailable which to me means that he is now available for selection again. Any news on when he will be back? I would have loved to have seen him on the bench this weekend but understand his return needs to be managed carefully......particularly after what happened last time. Fingers crossed!

[Raggs]

I hope this is not an oversight but Alfie is not mentioned as being unavailable which to me means that he is now available for selection again. Any news on when he will be back? I would have loved to have seen him on the bench this weekend but understand his return needs to be managed carefully......particularly after what happened last time. Fingers crossed!

I'm wondering if we're going to try and hold him back to come back in the Prem cup games, slightly easier reintroduction.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

I hope this is not an oversight but Alfie is not mentioned as being unavailable which to me means that he is now available for selection again. Any news on when he will be back? I would have loved to have seen him on the bench this weekend but understand his return needs to be managed carefully......particularly after what happened last time. Fingers crossed!

From the talk we hear, Alfie is ready, but the coaching team want to get him better match fit. It seems he has lost some of his bulk and is more muscle, faster.

[Heathen]

I think that the coaching/S&C team will monitor him during the coming week(s) before deciding when they think it is prudent to return him to the match day squad.

I envisage that the matchday squads for the next two weeks will be largely academy lads and loanees, given that we still have a significant number of players with injuries.

I personally would not risk Alfie unless he was 100%. Even then, maybe only the last 20 mins in both games.