The Easter Sunday afternoon offering is in the South of France where Toulon host Dai Young’s Wasps. Our Aviva Premiership side secured qualification after a nail biting wait following their twenty all draw with Leinster in the Final round and their place was thanks to Montpellier’s shock victory in Toulouse.
Wasps’ progression this season has been marked however this weekend poses a tremendous European challenge and key injuries have compounded that task. Alongside Nathan Hughes exclusion whilst he awaits his disciplinary appeal, Wasps' two starting wingers Christian Wade and Salosi Tagicakibau are sidelined with hamstring injuries. Tagicakibau is a difficult customer to play against, sides find him difficult tackle and he adds defensive security out wide whilst Christian's unique feet and ability to create something from absolutely nothing will be sorely missed.
From the opening round of this competition Toulon have oozed confidence, it is the type of confidence that comes with having won the Title for two years in a row and are looking as sharp as they did during the course of those successful campaigns. Bernard Laporte’s side are hungrier than ever, for the prize of a place in the history books is their 2015 motivation as no side has ever won the European competition for three years in succession. Toulouse have won four European titles but not in a row and both Leinster and Leicester have done the double but a treble is unchartered waters.
The fitness of Matt Giteau, who takes his place on the bench, is a tremendous boost to an already firing side. Giteau is a naturally gifted rugby player and even if he is a little rusty he will still add great value to the game. Toulon's missing personnel are influential ones too in particular Bryan Habana and Leigh Halfpenny, however their replacements highlight the depth in Laporte's squad as Delon Armitage and Drew Mitchell step into the shirts respectively.
Wasps must arrive in the South of France, cool, calm and collected in spite of their injuries and play with a positive freedom, for frankly speaking they are not expected to gain a victory against the odds on favourites to be Champions. My personal hope is that they put in a performance that is fitting of the occasion and one that does themselves justice. After showing the rest of the Aviva Premiership his colours Alex Lozowski starts at 10 with Andy Goode on the bench, this will be a huge test for Lozowski however I'm backing him to front up exactly like Henry Slade did against Jonny Wilkinson. James Haskell’s leadership and impact on the game will be vital, his head to head with Steffon Armitage will be the talk of the fixture and alongside Ashley Johnson and Guy Thompson they must deliver at the breakdown against the European force that is Steffon Armitage. Armitage has 15 European turnovers to his name already and more carries than any man in either side, it goes without saying nullifying him and his impact on proceedings is a very large priority.
Toulon will be confident and rightly so for their squad screams class; Botha, Hayman, Williams, Fernandez Lobbe and they are running on home soil. Our Aviva Premiership side must deliver to the top of their game from the first moment until the last and see where it takes them, there is no room for error in the South of France and they must be fearless against the most intimidating opponents in the competition.
