Wasps Like It Hot

London Wasps like it hot – and they intend to test Toulouse out in the heat of the Twickenham kitchen in Sunday’s Heineken Cup final.

That is the first of two Twickenham winner-takes-all dates for Lawrence Dallaglio’s team – they return to the ground six days later for the Zurich Premiership final against Bath Rugby – after putting their search for the double back on track with a 57-20 demolition of Northampton Saints following a couple of below-par performances.
We like playing in hot weather, and hopefully we can ask the same sort of questions of Toulouse and Bath in the next couple of weeks as we did of Northampton yesterday, said Director of Rugby Warren Gatland.

“We needed to get things back on track – we had suffered a couple of blips and looked hard at those defeats and no-one likes to take criticism.

Getting Simon Shaw back was very important because you can’t coach power and size. He gets us going forward at the rucks and mauls and if you take the key individuals out of any team then there will be holes.

“Tim Payne has had to come in for Craig Dowd and has done really well. In fact we have been putting pressure on Will Green to perform. Tim is our No 1 prop at the moment and he got some unfair criticism.

“What we are wondering is whether the target for Toulouse is Sunday’s game or the French championship? We have a few tapes on them and will have a good look at what they are doing.”

Dallaglio added: “We had our strongest team out against Northampton and, when that happens, we are a formidable side and this gives us real momentum going into the biggest match in the club’s history.

“I know when Wasps are going to play well. Our game is based on everyone buying into playing at high intensity with huge emotion and aggression.

“We have given ourselves a great opportunity to win two trophies and that’s what you play the game for. We recognise that Toulouse and Bath represent two of the great teams in rugby union and there isn’t a player in the Premiership who wouldn’t swap places with us at the moment.

We have had a tough run in and now it is two games at Twickenham to round off the season and everything to play for.

“Simon Shaw has been the outstanding player in the Zurich Premiership this season and bringing him back was bound to make a difference.

And coach Sean Edwards is confident Wasps have timed their bid to hit peak form to perfection – what is important is to recognise that great teams cannot perform for 52 weeks a year, he said.

They are great when they need to be. That’s when the true superstars come through – when it’s the acid test. That’s what we will have to do in the next two weeks.

“It’s important for us to be dominant on the advantage line and our finishing was clinical against Northampton. I think Tom Voyce is a different player to the one we played against in Bath colours. He is stronger and more powerful and I have nothing but praise for him.
Fabien Pelous will join the exclusive Heineken Cup 50 caps club when the Toulouse second row runs out at Twickenham to face London Wasps in the Heineken Cup final on Sunday (3.00 pm).
The French captain will become only the fifth player to qualify for an ERC Elite Award for making half a century of appearances in the Heineken Cup – the showpiece occasion will be his 45th game in Toulouse colours to go with the five tournament matches he played for Dax.