Mike Catt will celebrate his 37th birthday later this month, still wearing the London Irish No10 jersey that was supposed to be handed over to a much younger man.

Catt will be in the outside-half position against London Wasps in the opening Guinness Premiership match of the season at Twickenham on Saturday because Shane Geraghty, the England No10, has an ankle injury that will keep him out for at least a month.

Coming on top of the broken hand suffered by lock Bob Casey, their hugely influential captain, the Irish appear to be stumbling into the new campaign.

Add to the equation the loss of director of rugby Brian Smith, who has become England's backs coach, and Catt has every reason to sigh with exasperation.

However, Catt loves a challenge and, despite taking over as the club's backs coach, he still believes there is enough gas left in the tank to allow him to pull the tactical strings on the pitch.

Catt said: "I feel pretty good. Unfortunately, we are thin in the No10 and second-row areas. Shane just fell over and hurt himself.

"After all of his problems last season, he is a very frustrated young man at the moment. It's really bad luck and the injuries are so bizarre it's Wilkinson-like."

The 'Smith Affair' had a dramatic effect on the club's plans to bring in new talent. The directors concentrated on dealing with England's need for their director of rugby, which meant potential recruits slipped through the net.

Now Irish have to somehow protect Catt from any harm until Geraghty gets fit again.

Catt admitted: "We don't have a massive squad because the board needed to get the Brian Smith fiasco sorted out and it meant the two or three players who were ready to sign didn't put pen to paper.

"There is no blame but we are short at the moment. If I don't last until Shane gets fit again, then we really are down to the bare bones. I am not going to moan about it and, if I survive, then brilliant. If I don't, then I will worry about it when it happens.

"The problem we have is that players are in contract and while we would love to have English-qualified players, they are already with clubs.

"We are going to have to look abroad and there are not that many people available with the quality and experience we need. I know this is the back-end of my playing career and it's sure going on for a long time."

Toby Booth, the new director of rugby, retains his previous responsibility for the forwards and has given Catt freedom to bring in new ideas to the backs play. "I must admit that the pre-season was very, very tough and it's about how Boothy and I get the balance right between the coaching and playing." said Catt.

"Boothy told me to get as much done up to Wednesday and then prepare like a player on the Thursday and Friday. Hopefully, it's going to work really well. It's been brilliant fun so far but now we are down to the nitty-gritty. Things have to work - no question.

"A lot of teams will be like us, saying they want a top-four finish, but the stats show we won enough games last season to finish third yet only finished seventh because we didn't pick up enough bonus points.

"We reached the Heineken Cup semi-final and then didn't make it the following year.

"There isn't a different feel to the season without Brian because I haven't had time to think about that with the tough pre-season and the new experimental law variations to deal with. Most clubs are, it feels, starting from scratch.

"I have taken on a much bigger role. Last year I just tried to put my ideas forward to Smithy but now, under Toby Booth, I am introducing a lot of new stuff to the backs. We have tweaked a few things that have always been in place.

"Given that each time in the past when we have changed a lot of things we have made a bad start, we are not going to do that this time."