London Wasps Director of Rugby, Warren Gatland, has named his side for Friday night’s clash against Gloucester at the Causeway Stadium, kick-off 7:45pm.
Alex King returns to the side after a knee injury. King, whose last Wasps game was against Gloucester in the final, in which he won the Man of the Match award, has fully recovered from the knee injury that saw the fly-half withdraw from the initial England World Cup squad. He will however start from the bench.
King said, “I’m really glad to be back. There is nothing worse as a rugby player than sitting on the sidelines and just watching. It’s taken a good few months but my knee is healed and I’m ready for Premiership action. However, it does seem strange that my last game for Wasps was against Gloucester in the final, and now my first game back is against them again”.
“I’m on the bench and with Mark Van Gisbergen doing really well, it’s going to be tough to get my place back. However, I’m ready and willing to take up the challenge”.
The side features 13 players that were involved in the Twickenham final. After playing the majority of this season at No.6, Paul Volley, will move back to his accustomed No.7 with Mark Lock and Ian Clarke completing the back row.
Rob Howley will captain the side.
Wasps would like to make a special appeal to all supporters to please arrive early to avoid any traffic congestion around High Wycombe.
The team:
15 Tom Voyce14 Shane Rosier13 Fraser Waters12 Mark Denney11 John Rudd10 Mark Van Gisbergen9 Rob Howley (Capt)
1 Craig Dowd2 Trevor Leota3 Will Green4 Martin Purdy5 Richard Birkett6 Ian Clarke7 Paul Volley8 Mark Lock
16 Alex King17 Phil Greening18 Peter Richards19 Jonny O’ Connor20 John Hart21 Peter Scrivener22 Tim Payne
ENDS
