Mark van Gisbergen is being asked to solve London Wasps' "catastrophic" problems under the high ball that threaten to wreck their entire season.

Wasps suffered a crushing 41-11 Heineken Cup defeat by Leinster in Dublin. The former champions are still second in their pool, six points behind the Irish side, but head coach Shaun Edwards admits the defeat has "seriously affected our chances "of making it into the knock out stages.

While Wasps endured a miserable second half in Dublin, Harlequins were celebrating an impressive 42-21 victory over Ulster 42-21 at the Twickenham Stoop. However, some of the gloss was taken off the victory with news that England wing Dave Strettle must undergo a third operation on his metatarsal injury to graft bone on to the fracture site.

While surgical intervention is the only cure for Strettle, the Wasps problems require less severe action and revolves around Van Gisbergen proving he is still an international class player under the high kicks that opposition teams are launching at his team-mates.

Tactical kicking has become a feature this season following the arrival of controversial experimental law variations and Wasps have been unusually vulnerable to this most basic of attacking weapons.

Spilled ball that has gifted the opposition tries has seen Josh Lewsey, Tom Voyce, Lachlan Mitchell and Jeremy Staunton tried in the full-back role that Van Gisbergen held at the start of the season, before injury intervened.

Now he is back and will be given a full game at No15 in the EDF Energy Cup match at Newcastle on Friday night.

Edwards said: "Dealing with the high ball has been a travesty. Clearly, that has become a repetitive problem and we now have Mark van Gisbergen back from injury and we aim to improve the standard of our play in this area. We have to get back into the groove. We have seriously harmed our chances in the Heineken Cup and have put ourselves behind the eight ball. Whether we can win the group is another matter."

Quins, meanwhile, lead their pool from Stade Francais, who are their next opponents in Paris on 6 December. With Danny Care impressing against Ulster watched by England boss Martin Johnson, the battle for the No9 jersey against the Pacific Barbarians appears to be settled. In the European Challenge Cup, London Irish beat Connacht 27-10 and Saracens won 35-12 at Viadana.