Wasps rest England trio

Wasps will rest England World Cup trio Lawrence Dallaglio, Josh Lewsey and Simon Shaw for the home Heineken Cup clash against Italian minnows Calvisano on Sunday.

Former Wales scrum-half Rob Howley, centre Fraser Waters, prop Craig Dowd and hooker Phil Greening also take a breather.

Wasps boss Warren Gatland, whose team face a potential Pool Six winner-takes-all encounter against Perpignan on Sunday week, hands flanker Paul Volley the captaincy.

The Wasps pack sees Tim Payne, Trevor Leota and Will Green forging a solid front-row, with youngsters George Skivington and Martin Purdy as the locks, with a back-row of Volley, Jonny O’Connor and Joe Worsley.

Volley is the third player to skipper Wasps in this season’s Heineken Cup, following Dallaglio and fly-half Alex King.

“Calvisano might not have won a game in this pool, but they are very tricky customers,” said Volley.

“Not many sides score five tries against us, but they did earlier this season. We go into the game as favourites, but we know it’s not going to be easy.

“We slipped up in our last home game (against Celtic Warriors), which is something we can’t afford to do on Sunday. If we want to progress in this competition, then we must win.”