WASPS TEAM FOR SALE SHARKS

WASPS TEAM TO PLAY SALE SHARKS

Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young has named his squad to take on Sale Sharks at the Ricoh Arena this Sunday, KO 14.00.

Simon McIntyre, Rob Miller and James Gaskell all start against their former club, while Bradley Davies and Carlo Festuccia return to the starting line-up, after coming off the bench in last weekend’s win at Kingsholm.

Ben Jacobs and Elliot Daly continue their centre partnership, Varndell and Wade again start on the wings and the back row and half back combinations are unchanged.

With almost 15,000 expected at the Ricoh Arena this weekend, Young and his squad are looking forward to returning to their new home:

“We are really excited about returning to the Ricoh Arena after such a special atmosphere there during our first game last month,” said Young.

“It’s a fantastic stadium, the players were over the moon with the facilities and everything on their first match. You couldn’t fail to enjoy the occasion, with so much noise being made and Wasps flags being waved.

“We’re hoping for another decent crowd, but we need to focus on what we do, and that’s producing a standard of rugby and results that make supporters want to keep coming back.

“We will be working hard to produce an 80 minute performance on Sunday and we know we will need to be at our best against a strong Sale Sharks side.

“It’s neck and neck between us both at the half way stage in the Aviva Premiership, with both teams tied on 30 points.

“Sale have had the wood over us the last couple of seasons. They’re a battle-hardened team with a fantastic driving line-out and some X factor players who can win games for them, so we know the threat they will bring.

“While we weren’t happy with aspects of our performance last Sunday, it was good to get the monkey off our back by getting an away win in the Aviva Premiership.

“The focus this Sunday will be on backing up that win, as well as our first performance at the Ricoh Arena, to try to turn our new home into a fortress as soon as possible.”

Wasps Team

15. Rob Miller

14. Christian Wade

13. Elliot Daly

12. Ben Jacobs

11. Tom Varndell

10. Andy Goode

9. Joe Simpson

1. Simon McIntyre

2. Carlo Festuccia

3. Lorenzo Cittadini

4. Bradley Davies

5. James Gaskell

6. Ashley Johnson

7. James Haskell (C)

8. Nathan Hughes

Replacements

16. Tom Lindsay

17. Matt Mullan

18. Phil Swainston

19. Kearnan Myall

20. Sam Jones

21. Charlie Davies

22. Alex Lozowski

23. Alapati Leiua