Northampton 24 Wasps 20: McGeechan considers playing by new rules to halt Wasps' slump

There are a number of measures Ian McGeechan might take to halt his champion club's southerly slide down the Guinness Premiership table, not all of them to do with a permanent banishment of the malfunctioning Josh Lewsey to the left wing - the union code's version of the Outer Hebrides. As Wasps' current problems are rooted in their cussed determination to keep playing rugby under a set of laws and interpretations that reward those who prefer to do the opposite, we may soon be treated to the grotesque farce of one of the world's great coaches embracing a bog-standard strategy of kick and chase.

"The way things are shaping up," McGeechan sighed after this third successive Premiership defeat, "it might make sense. It seems to me that a strong kicking game and a decent chase are now enough to win you a match, while anything more imaginative stands every chance of losing you one. It might boil down to coaches trying to stop good players playing. I watched a couple of Tri-Nations Tests during the summer, and all I saw was good players not playing rugby. I'm not sure this is what we really want for the sport, but there you go."

Wasps tried to play at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday; indeed, the try they scored after nine minutes, created by Tom Voyce and finished down the right by Dominic Waldouck, was a thing of beauty. But they were undone by the International Rugby Board's inexplicable determination to bastardise a game it is meant to be protecting. Maybe the IRB hierarchy should join Lewsey in exile. St Helena sounds about right: as Napoleon discovered, there is no way off.

In fairness to Northampton, they too tried to play. Bruce Reihana, a New Zealand import who may be among the most dedicated loyalists ever to have played his rugby on these ancient pleasure grounds, was in buccaneering mood at full-back; Carlos Spencer showed flashes of the best of himself at outside-half; Lee Dickson and Ben Foden, splitting the workload at scrum-half, were sharp and direct. Yet Chris White, the referee, awarded 34 penalties - one every two minutes, as near as dammit. Even the ultra-enthusiastic local supporters, who would happily pay to watch two flies racing across a cowpat provided one of them was wearing Saints colours, were left wondering what sins they had committed in a previous life.

It was not White's fault, for he was merely obeying orders. It was purely the fault of the Experimental Law Variations and their deleterious effect on such union staples as the attacking line-out and the driving maul, combined with the edict that players must stay on their feet at the breakdown, even when the laws of physics prove such a feat to be impossible. If a team cannot maul, and cannot go at least some way towards protecting possession on the floor, it is best not to have the ball at all. Hence, the aimless hoof downfield. Fascinating.

After 46 seconds, the first hoof of the afternoon went in the general direction of Lewsey, who had so publicly messed up under the high ball against Worcester six days previously. The World Cup winner promptly misjudged things again, and after scuttling back to retrieve a ball that had bounced over his head, he had his clearance charged down by Reihana, who completed the try unmolested. Early in the second quarter, Spencer hung another one on Lewsey. Under pressure from Neil Best, the full-back spilt it so comprehensively that Chris Ashton scored to the left of the sticks.

McGeechan acted decisively at the interval, instructing Lewsey and Voyce to switch positions. As is his wont, the coach went out of his way to spare the former's blushes - "We did it because there was a little bit of a breeze out there and Tom is a much longer kicker from the middle of the field," he explained - but it looked bad. When another Ashton, the former England coach Brian, decided Lewsey was a wing rather than a full-back and selected accordingly, he was lambasted. Maybe he knew a thing or two, after all.

One way or another, Wasps are in a state. They have lost three from three, go to Leicester on Friday night, and the autumn internationals are fast approaching - matches that might easily relieve them of nine first-choice players.

To make matters worse, they now find themselves managing a small crisis at hooker. Joe Ward left the field on Saturday with his right arm wrapped in his shirt - happily, the arm was still attached to the shoulder - and with Raphaël Ibanez struggling for fitness, they could be down to Rob Webber and A N Other for the difficult trip to Welford Road.

Northampton, meanwhile, are rather enjoying life on their return to the elite level. Their scrummage is nicely up together, they defend with a high degree of passion - their new flankers, Best and Scott Gray, have quickly secured places in the hearts of a Franklin's Gardens audience reared on a rich diet of Shelford, Rodber, Lam and Pountney - and their kicking from hand is, on a good day, as accurate as anyone's.

If they can just sort their goal-kicking, they will prosper. Stephen Myler may be the answer. He started this game on the bench, but after paving the way for Sean Lamont's match-winning try nine minutes from time with a floated pass off his right hand, the midfielder nailed a wonderful conversion from an angle so demanding that he had to move a sponsor's advertising hoarding to give himself a run-up. On this showing, he should spend longer on the field. The full 80 minutes, preferably.

Northampton: Tries Reihana, Ashton, Lamont; Conversions Reihana 2, Myler; Penalty Reihana. Wasps: Try Waldouck; Penalties Walder 5.

Northampton: B Reihana (capt); C Ashton, J Ansbro, J Downey (S Myler, 66), S Lamont; CSpencer, L Dickson (B Foden, 61); S Tonga'uiha (T Smith, 64), D Hartley, E Murray (B Stewart, 64), I Fernandez Lobbe (A Rae, 65), C Day, N Best, S Gray, R Wilson.

Wasps: J Lewsey; P Sackey, D Waldouck, R Flutey, T Voyce; D Walder, E Reddan (M Robinson, 64); T Payne (P Barnard, h-t), J Ward (R Webber, 40), P Vickery (capt), R Birkett (D Leo, 68), T Palmer, J Worsley, J Haskell (S Betsen, 70), J Hart.

Referee: C White (Gloucestershire).