WASPS player Charlie Atkinson insists the camp are “excited” ahead of their return to European action against Biarritz tonight.
The club dropped into European rugby’s secondary competition after they were knocked out of the Champions Cup in a tough group that contained reigning champions Toulouse and Irish heavyweights Munster.
And Wasps will play French opposition again tonight with a trip to Biarritz in the round of 16 in the Challenge Cup.
Atkinson said: “Everyone has their sights set on that final in Marseille, you could describe it like that [a second chance] the difference is what makes everybody excited, it’s very different from the Premiership.
“It was nice to get a weekend off but as soon as Europe is mentioned everyone gets really excited, we were unfortunate to get knocked out of the Champions Cup but the Challenge Cup is a pretty prestigious tournament.
“It doesn’t really distract us from what we’re trying to achieve in the Premiership, we take it week by week and one game at a time and all focus is on whatever is coming up next.”
Wasps recorded a memorable victory against Toulouse at the Coventry Building Society Arena earlier this season but Atkinson is expecting a different challenge from Top 14’s bottom side.
Atkinson added: “We do fluctuate in our performances, you can see that from our results, wins like the ones against Toulouse and Leicester Tigers show the potential we can reach, we just need to get that bit more consistency.
“We haven’t mentioned the Toulouse game, we can’t look at how we played against Toulouse because they are a completely different team.
“Just because we beat Toulouse, the reigning champions, I don’t think that plays a factor in this game.”
Wasps make the trip to Biarritz tonight (Friday, April 15) with kick-off at 6pm at Parc des Sports Aguiléra.
