Wasps promise sting in the tail for Tigers
The final will be their fifth meeting this season, with Leicester gaining the upper hand in all but one of the previous four games.
A 17-17 draw in the Zurich Premiership at the start of the season has been as good as it has got for the defending Premiership champions, as Leicester triumphed in two fierce Heineken Cup clashes in February, and the recent Premiership decider at Welford Road ended in a crushing 45-10 defeat.
But despite Wasps playing second fiddle to John Wells’ team for much of the season, they have proved time and time again to be masters of the one-off game, and Birkett believes they can go out and play without fear on Saturday.
“Saturday is about getting a bit of payback from our point of view,” said Birkett.
“They beat us pretty convincingly in the Premiership a couple of weeks ago and they also beat us in the Heineken Cup so we’ll be looking to get one over on them this time.
“We’ve got nothing to lose though because everyone is expecting us to lose anyway.”
Birkett has been quietly and efficiently going about his business at Wasps for a number of seasons now, having made a full recovery from a snapped cruciate ligament sustained in 2001.
The 25-year-old, who has formed a high-quality partnership with Simon Shaw in the engine room of the Wasps pack, is looking forward to locking horns with Martin Johnson - who will be playing his last game of competitive rugby - and the current England lock Ben Kay.
“Martin Johnson is a tough character and it is always a physical battle with him,” said Birkett .
“I’ll be going head to head with Ben Kay, who studies the line-out closely and disrupts it really well.”
Birkett dismisses suggestions the Tigers have any kind of mental hold over the Wasps and believes he knows the way to defeat the Midlands outfit.
Wasps have not lost a Zurich Premiership play-off game, and Birkett is adamant they can win by keeping to a simple game-plan.
“In all three games that we have lost to Leicester this season we’ve shot ourselves in the foot,” Birkett said.
“There’s been three or four interceptions in those games as well. We’ve shown that if we can keep hold of possession and go through our phases then we can make inroads into Leicester’s defence.”
It is no surprise Birkett should place so much emphasis on retaining possession.
By his own admission Wasps’ line-out has not been functioning to its usual high standards this season.
“The line-out has been pretty dire so far this season,” said Birkett. “Luckily our defence has been so good that it has not been too much of a problem.”
After the Welford Road defeat in the last league game of the season, Wasps bounced back last weekend with a muscular 43-22 win over Sale in the play-off semi-final. Birkett believes that win over the Sharks will hold the key to beating Leicester.
“We took it up a notch physically against Sale,” he said. “When we play well we physically dominate the opposition, and that’s what we need to do on Saturday.”
As usual for Wasps, captain Lawrence Dallaglio will be a pivotal figure at Twickenham. “I think Lawrence has played better than ever for us this season and he fully deserves his place on the Lions tour,” said Birkett.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
