Out On The Full Introduces The Stinger!!

As Premiership Rugby grows in popularity taking games to larger stadiums is becoming the norm… Harlequins and Saracens have both established their own annual larger matches and now London Wasps have brought back their flagship fixture at Twickenham Stadium after a year’s absence. Wasps have chosen to ‘super-size’ their St George’s Day fixture and on Easter Saturday they will host ‘The Stinger’ at Twickenham. Having attended some larger Premiership games before I wanted to understand from Wasps exactly what to expect on and off the pitch;  

The first and most important thing about The Stinger is the fact that it is supporting and raising huge amounts of funds for Sport Relief. £1 from each ticket sold for the game goes to Sport Relief and over the past weeks the entire Wasps Squad have been out there taking part in a huge range of Sport Relief activities. Now I’m sure that you have seen a few of these already via the glorious medium that is Twitter but for those that didn’t let me highlight a few; 4 squad members featured in a music video for a very well-known girl group… whilst Will Taylor, Will Helu and Christian Wade stuck to dancing, James Haskell actually bench pressed a member of the band!! Next the team supported Jo Whiley in her 24 hour treadmill challenge and two lucky team members launched the Stinger shirt by having it body painted on them!! 

Pre-match live music is now and essential part of a Twickenham match day experienced and at The Stinger this will be delivered in the form of the Killer Queen Tribute band and X factor winners Little Mix. The ladies will be performing a number of tracks including their Sport Relief Single; Word Up. Suggestions have already started on Twitter as to which player will deliver the ‘cringiest’ tweet to the girls and obviously I will keep you all posted on that one as the event draws closer… there are already a few front runners but it would be more than my blog’s worth to name who they are… guesses on a postcard or Tweet!!

Now as you would expect Wasps are pulling out all of the stops for The Stinger as well as giving away 64,000 units of Lindt Chocolate Goodies and having a huge West Car Park Village with face painters, stilt walkers and jugglers, they have their 16th Man Competition. Now I love a good competition and when I read about this one I wished that I could win, sadly I think I’m not allowed!!! The 16th Man prize is simply outrageous; you get to sit on the bench with the Wasps subs during the match, you are given up a full set of Wasps kit, you will have a pre match tour of the changing rooms and you will feature in the programme. Now first things first… let me remind you that this game is at Twickenham… HQ…. the home of England Rugby and hardly anyone is allowed into the changing rooms, let alone on the pitch! Secondly the Wasps kit is very, very nice and thirdly you will have the best seat in the house to watch a cracker of a fixture… now you can see why I’d quite like to win it!!! 

Clearly the match itself is the main event, Wasps and their opponents Gloucester have both experienced ‘undulating’ seasons in terms of their performances however you can guarantee that at Twickenham on 19th April both will crank it up a gear as Wasps Club Captain Chris Bell highlighted; 

“It is a huge honour for Wasps to be able to call Twickenham home, personally I can’t wait to lead the team out as it is something that I didn’t get to do at the beginning of the season due to injury. The whole event will be a superb day for the club and obviously we need to deliver on the field” 

There is no doubt about the fact that The Stinger will be an outstanding day both on and off the field. Twickenham Stadium is one of the greatest stadiums in the world and few weeks’ time it will be painted in black and gold. I have my ticket ready to go and hopefully I will see a few of you there ready to enjoy a stunning day of Aviva Premiership Rugby. 

The Important Stinger Event Details; Saturday 19th April 2014, 3.15pm KO Twickenham Stadium. Tickets Here  (West Car Park Opens 12pm, Gates Open 12.45pm Entertainment Starts 1.45pm.)

The 16th Man Competition; Entry is via the London Wasps Website Here. Good Luck!!!