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Fired-up Staunton has Wasps in a spin

Chris Jones, Evening Standard
29 Sep 2008


Jeremy Staunton, who kicked London Wasps to their first victory of the season at Leicester, has given the club a selection headache as they prepare to bring Danny Cipriani back into the squad for Wednesday's home game against Bath.

Shaun Edwards, the Wasps head coach, said after his side's 28-19 win: "His kicking was fantastic and now we have to think about selection with so many games in a such short period.

"Danny [Cipriani] can play all over the back division and gained a lot of experience at full-back last season."

Wasps face Bath and then visit Gloucester in the EDF Cup on Saturday and Staunton knows that Cipriani's return to the side from injury is a certainty. The only debate is whether he plays at
full-back or No10.

Staunton said: "People outside this club don't realise that we have great depth at No10 and we saw that last season when Danny and Dave Walder were badly injured and I was able to play in that role as well as Riki Flutey.

"I was frustrated that I hadn't got a start before the Leicester game and was determined to take my chance and I believe I did it."

Dean Richards, the Harlequins director of rugby, saw his side beaten 28-27 as London Irish staged an amazing second-half fightback at The Stoop.

He said: "Our territory play was poor. It comes down to our ability to take the pressure off ourselves, which we didn't do in the first 20 minutes of the second half."

Toby Booth, the London Irish director of rugby, said: "I thought we showed an inner desire and good determination."

Former Wales Grand Slam captain Michael Owen won the plaudits after helping Saracens register a 26-12 victory over promoted Northampton as they won for the second time in six days at Vicarage Road.

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