Leeds achieved a first ever victory over Wasps when the two teams met at Adams Park in the Guinness Premiership on 1 November. Wasps have won all six previous visits to Headingley Carnegie.
Leeds Carnegie earned a third victory of the Guinness Premiership season at Sale on Friday night, but are still winless at home in the competition since their 16-15 victory over Newcastle way back in March 2008.
London Wasps have won their last three matches in all competitions, and have won four of their last seven away games in the Guinness Premiership.
In addition London Wasps will head into the match with a place in the top four after beating Saracens and will be bolstered further by the return of Samoan International, Dan Leo, and England Saxon, Dominic Waldouck. Both players make a return from injury; Leo recovering from a medial ligament sprain to his left knee sustained against Scarlets and Waldouck from a shoulder injury picked up whilst on international duty.
Leo, who is named in place of George Skivington, is one of four changes to the starting XV that secured a 9-0 win over their local rivals last weekend. Skivington is withdrawn after sustaining a mild concussion this week.
With Joe Worsley named as part of the England side to face Ireland on Saturday, Will Matthews comes into the back row. The only other change amongst the pack is seen in the front row where Joe Ward and Rob Webber switch on the bench. The final change is seen on the wing with Tom Varndell and David Lemi named. Paul Sackey is ruled out due to illness.
Amongst the replacements, alongside the addition of Waldouck, Tom Lindsay and James Honeyben are also named.
Looking ahead to the game, Wasps Director of Rugby, Tony Hanks said, "Leeds are one of the more dangerous teams in the competition at the moment and I think we know that more than any other side after the defeat we suffered on our own turf earlier in the season."
"They're playing with a lot of confidence and have probably been unlucky through the year. But they've shown their quality winning three games away and they are hard to score against. They are well coached and their set-piece is good, so we know how tough it's going to be.
"We said after Leicester that our goal-kicking, our scrum and our discipline were the three things that we needed to rectify and I was really pleased with how the players have addressed the areas of improvement and showed that learning. Last weekend's display did a lot to demonstrate just how much effort is going into our performance and we are of course delighted to see the win and a move into the top end of the table. We know we have a lot to work on but the attitude at the Club is hugely positive and everyone is focused on securing the wins now as we go into the last stretch of the season.
"We are of course pleased to see Dan Leo and Dominic Waldouck back in Wasps colours for the weekend. They, along with our medical and conditioning team, have worked hard to get back to fitness and it is another boost to the squad going into this game."
Leeds Carnegie have made two changes and scrum half Andy Gomarsall has been ruled out by a leg injury picked up last week in the win at Sale so Scott Mathie will start his first game in the Guinness Premiership after 13 appearances as a replacement.
The other change comes in the forwards with Kearnan Myall swapping places with Calum Clark in the back row. Joe Bedford is the only other change on the bench from the last two games as he comes in to fill the gap left by Mathie.
Leeds Carnegie v London Wasps
Date: 28th February 2010
Kick off :14:00
Venue :Headingley Carnegie
Referee: Martin Fox (54th Premiership game)
Teams
Leeds Carnegie
15. Leigh Hinton , 14. Henry Fa'afili , 13. Seru Rabeni , 12. Scott Barrow , 11. Lee Blackett , 10. Ceiron Thomas , 9. Scott Mathie , 1. Mike MacDonald , 2. Andy Titterrell , 3. Juan Gomez , 4. Erik Lund , 5. Marco Wentzel (C) , 6. Kearnan Myall , 7. Hendre Fourie , 8. Rhys Oakley
Reserves 16. Vili Ma'asi , 17. Gareth Hardy , 18. Phil Swainston , 19. Calum Clark , 20. Alfie To'oala , 21. Joe Bedford , 22. Joe Ford , 23. Richard Welding
London Wasps
15. Mark Van Gisbergen , 14. Tom Varndell , 13. Ben Jacobs , 12. Steve Kefu , 11. David Lemi , 10. Danny Cipriani , 9. Warren Fury , 1. Sakaria Taulafo , 2. Joe Ward , 3. Ben Broster , 4. Marty Veale , 5. Dan Leo , 6. Will Matthews , 7. Serge Betsen (c) , 8. Dan Ward-Smith
16. Rob Webber , 17. Gabriel Bocca , 18. Bob Baker , 19. Hugo Ellis , 20. Tom Lindsay , 21. James Honeyben , 22. Dave Walder , 23. Dominic Waldouck
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