Wedding rules out Lewsey for Wasps

EUROPEAN champions Wasps will be without Josh Lewsey for their Heineken Cup match against Llanelli tomorrow in Munster’s Pool Five.

Lewsey is getting married this weekend, so Mark van Gisbergen comes in at full-back, while Simon Shaw and James Heskell return to the pack.

Llanelli Scarlets are without 11 players for their trip to Adams Park.

Wales half-backs Stephen Jones and Dwayne Peel, plus centre Regan King, full-back Morgan Stoddart and wings Dafydd James and Nathan Brew are out.

First-choice back-rows Gavin Thomas and Alix Popham, plus Matthew Rees, Ken Owens and Vernon Cooper complete the casualty list in the forwards.

But director of rugby Phil Davies said: “Team confidence is not a problem.”

Davies insists the Scarlets are travelling to Adams Park hoping to pick up their first points of this year’s Heineken campaign.

But Wasps, sitting in second place and only one point behind Munster, will be looking for maximum points tomorrow.

“The team is competing well at Heineken level but not as well as we would have liked this year,” said Davies.

“We need to keep building in competitions.

“Every game in the Heineken Cup is vital even if not this year.

“We want to make things difficult for Wasps and Clermont next week. It’s all about performing and winning games.”

Captain Simon Easterby knows the tough task that lies ahead.

“It will be challenging with the injuries we have but there is sufficient strength in depth to cope,” he said. “We didn’t get the results but have played some good rugby.

“There have been close games which have been disappointing but not as disappointing as losing by 30 points.”