Rugby Union / Geoffrey Riddle / 06 March 2009 / Leave a comment

Geoffrey Riddle reports from Wasps' Twyford Avenue training base as players and staff scotch rumours of unrest and tell their Premiership rivals: "We mean business."

Wasps host London Irish this weekend safe in the knowledge that 13 of their best players will not be leaving the club at the end of the season.

The announcement that Danny Cipriani and Co. will stay on at Wasps until at least next season comes after it was leaked three weeks ago that James Haskell, their prized asset, as well as Riki Flutey and lock Tom Palmer were heading for France at the end of the season.

It has stiffened the sinews of the club. Coaches Ian McGeechan and Shaun Edwards put on an enormous show of solidarity at their Twyford Avenue training base, and they sent a stark message out to the rest of the Premiership that they mean business from now on.

McGeechan said: "We are delighted with the volume of players committing to the club next season. This is a great show of intent from the players. All of these play a pivotal role in our campaign both now and in the future."

Edwards was a bit more phlegmatic, and was keen to concentrate on the more immediate hurdle of beating the Exiles at home. "The club is once again strengthened by the belief of its players and the set up in place," the former league legend said. "We are focused on making a strong return to Adams Park in front of our home crowd, whose support has been fantastic in recent games."

Wasps have won their last six fixtures at home and on paper this looks like another good opportunity to pick up some valuable league points at the expense of an out-of-from London Irish side. Irish have picked up just 12 points from their last six league fixtures. Wasps, on the other hand, believe that they are playing some good rugby at the moment, despite the fact that they went down 13-12 to Worcester last week.

Edwards continued: "The defeat at Worcester hurt, but the performance was very strong and we will be looking to build on that on Sunday."

However, the squad cannot hide from the fact that they haven't crossed the tryline in 196 minutes of rugby.

Danny Cipriani is mindful of his side's current try-scoring malaise, but was keen to echo Edwards' synopsis. "Against Worcester we played some very good rugby, and we got into some really good positions. Where it all went wrong was in the final third of the pitch."

Both teams have been named, and although none of the high street bookies have put up their prices yet for this live game, you wouldn't have Wasps much shorter than around [1.5] in the match odds market. The handicap lines will give the visitors around a five-point start. Punters must take into account that neither Bob Casey, not Nick Kennedy line up for Irish in the second-row, which negates a lot of their advantage in the line-out. McGeechan, meanwhile, has named a very strong Wasps outfit.

London Irish have also been extremely sluggish in the first half of late. They were losing 21-8 at home to Leicester last week, before they scraped it back to a 31-28 defeat. The week before that, Irish staged one of the all-time great comebacks having been 17-0 down to Bath at the interval. They salvaged a 20-20 draw.

So, with the visitors seemingly unable to play at all in the first half at the moment, and Wasps looking try-shy, perhaps this is one for those who like to sell total match points. With such a euphoria surrounding Adams Park this weekend, Wasps will just want to hold on to any win that they can get. After all, they wouldn't want to jeopardise their new-found momentum, would they?