Wasps - the Next Big Thing

Monday December 29 2003

Stephen Jones, of the Sunday Times in London, believes English club side Wasps are the Next Big Thing in British rugby, and, perhaps even European rugby.

This is Gary Gold, the South African coach of London Irish, on the Wasps effort which saw off Gold's London Irish charges at the Madejski Stadium, Reading, last Saturday. "They are the best regional side in World rugby and by that I mean better than anything in the Super 12 or in the National Provincial Championship (NPC) in New Zealand." Wasps' demolishing of Perpignan, last years runners-up in the Heineken Cup, in the recent pool match of this year's tournament suggests that Euro domination at least is on the cards.

In passing, another aspect of that game would have been of interest to New Zealand followers, in the week where Graham Henry laid bare his understandable anxieties as to the state of New Zealand forward play. There is not a single shadow of doubt that Craig Dowd is still the best New Zealand prop in the game.

Compared to the washed-out efforts of Messrs Hewett, Meeuws, Somerville, Hoeft and the others he is still a giant. Dowd has been a revelation at Wasps, is clearly enjoying his rugby and is contributing massively in the scrum and all over the field.

Gold's heady words were only part of a heady weekend. Despite foul weather, the six Zurich Premiership games attracted 78,407 spectators, a record for a single weekend. The old mark of 65,046 actually tumbled on Saturday, still with Newcastle Falcons' sold-out match against Northampton Saints to come. There was a slight dampener on celebrations in the North-East when Mr Wilkinson departed with an injury although Dave Walder, his understudy, came on and dominated proceedings to see the Falcons home.

The uplift in attendance was already happening well before England's World Cup triumph but the England club owners are now anxiously casting around for the means to add capacity to their stadiums. The London Irish-Wasps game was watched by nearly 21,000, with other would-be paying punters locked outside.

What of Gold's comments about Wasps? The rise to prominence started roughly a year ago. Warren Gatland, the coach, was in fighting mood at poor Wasps performances and suddenly, as if someone had thrown a switch, it all clicked. Gloucester were swept away in the Final of the Zurich Championship, installing Wasps as the champion club.

They have a spine of real class throughout the team - Fraser Waters is, week-in week-out, one of the hardest and most effective centres playing the game; Alex King, the crafty fly-half, is a wonderful organiser. King deserved to go to the World Cup but Clive Woodward wanted his fly-half to be a goal-kicker. King is a high-percentage kicker for his club, but in what amounted to a final trial for the World Cup in the warm-up match last August in Cardiff, he misfired.

Rob Howley is as sharp as ever at scrum-half and the galvanising power of Craig Dowd in the front row, the splendid Simon Shaw at lock and Lawrence Dallaglio in the back row gives the team an abrasive core. It is obvious from the sidelines that Wasps are not a nice team to play against. Dallaglio did not even play against the Irish, which allowed Paul Volley an outing. Volley, to his ill-disguised anger, has been left out of the openside flank in favour of Jonny O'Connor, the young meteor who has been attracting rave reviews. On Saturday, Volley came in on the blindside with Joe Worsley moving to No 8, and Volley played a wonderful game.

They also have attacking sharpness. Stuart Abbott's creativity and the finishing power of Josh Lewsey and Tom Voyce gives them a cutting edge. Wasps clearly have the ability to switch between various styles of play, essential giving the intensity of the season and the variable weather conditions.

Yet perhaps the roots of Wasps' promise lies in their reserve strength, which after all, has carried them through to second place in the table despite the absence in Australia of Dallaglio, Abbott, Worsley, Shaw and Lewsey, together with Kenny Logan of Scotland, and the injured absence of King, only recently restored. They had class players on the fringes of every position.

Mark van Gisbergen has been a revelation as King's stand-in and now, at fullback. Peter Richards is pressing Howley hard for the starting scrum-half position. Perhaps the biggest revelation of all has been Ayoola Erinle, all of 6'4" and 17 stone in the centre, but with real pace and stepping ability. Erinle came on to score devastating tries against Saracens and London Irish recently. Some prospect.

The next major decision for Wasps concerns their home ground. Their move to High Wycombe last season came about because their groundshare at Loftus Road, West London, was suspended - Fulham went to Loftus Road to share with Queens Park Rangers, while Craven Cottage is being rebuilt. But Wasps' temporary home is atmospheric, packed and the local community is mad for more Wasps. It would surely be a waste to move back to what often appeared a West London wasteland. The answer must be for Wasps to seek to increase capacity and make the Causeway Stadium their permanent home.

Are they really the best non-international team in the world? We will never know. The Super 12 and the Zurich Premiership are two different styles of competition. One is  geared to a concept of entertainment now entirely outdated and which cost New Zealand the 2003 World Cup. The other is a real rugby event, held every week throughout the long slog of the season. Entertainment? Ask the 78,407 who filed through the turnstiles last weekend.

However, any match between the two competition winners would be unfair. Whoever travelled the 12,000 miles to play out of season would be at a massive disadvantage. The Super 12 champions would also struggle of the match was played under the real rules of rugby.

What is certain, however, is that Wasps are fast becoming the Next Big Thing in English rugby.