EVERY cloud has a silver lining, or so they say.

For what it's worth, the bright bit to take out of Wasps' loss to Hunslet last week is the fact there might at last be some continuity in the Huntington Stadium ranks.

The Wasps, you see, were able to field the same starting 13 in two consecutive matches for the first time in 21 months.

However, coach Leo Epifania reckons continuity only helps if consistently good performances come with it.

"If you can stick with the same team, the players get to know each other's plays, they start to understand where he's going to run, when he's going to pass and what he's trying to do," he said.

"It gets harmony going and combinations start to develop."

However, he added: "Keeping the same line-up is only a positive if they're playing well.

"It's not a plus point if we need to make changes but have got no-one to put in there."

The same 13 who battled against Villeneuve a fortnight ago were distinctly under-par against a poor Hawks outfit, and Epifania went on: "I've got a few players who can play well week in week out but a lot who are not able to perform at their best every week.

"The training is almost perfect but, at the end of the day, if the guy is doing it in training but not during a match it means he's not handling pressure game situations.

"I've seen a lot of players who are geniuses in training but don't have it on game day.

"For a player to play well week in week out he has to train himself to do it.

"Some of our guys have come from amateur ranks where they didn't have to play at their best every week but got away with it. Now I'm asking for their best every match but at the moment I'm not getting it."

Epifania is continuing his tireless search for new blood but admits it is hard to find.

"Realistically we need at least four more top players in specific positions, possibly even seven or eight, to be competitive week in week out," he said.

"For example, we need an experienced, organising half-back, but there's only so many of them around and finding one who's available isn't easy.

"I could swap players' positions but I don't know if rearranging things is the end of the problem as you've still got the same furniture."

FOR the record, the Wasps last fielded an unchanged starting line-up in May 2000, some 48 matches ago.

Hunslet were involved then too, as the second of those games was also against the Hawks, the previous match having been at Sheffield Eagles a week earlier, on May 14.

The starting line-up then was: Andy Preston, Dean Thomas, Simon Irving, Andrew Lambert, Matt Woodcock, Mark Cain, Craig Robinson, Craig Forsyth, Alan Pallister, Steve Hill, Mick Ramsden, Andy Hill, Chris Judge.

Mark Cain has since left and returned to Wasps, while the only other survivors still at the club are Alan Pallister and Mick Ramsden.

The starting line-up on Sunday was: Jamie Benn, Ben Sorbello, Shaun Austerfield, Carl Hall, Gavin Molloy, Jon Liddell, Scott Yeaman, Mick Docherty, Peter Edwards, Steve Hill, Carl Barrow, Mick Ramsden, Mark Cain.

The substitutes on Sunday, however, were different to those against Villeneuve.

Indeed, you have to go back to July 1999 for the last time Wasps sent out the same 17 for two consecutive matches (against Swinton and Workington). However, on that occasion the starting 13 were not the same.

On that point, the Wasps have never yet fielded the exact same 17 (wearing the same numbers) since the introduction of the four-substitute allowance in 1996.

Coincidentally enough, Wasps would have put out an unchanged line-up against Hunslet on Boxing Day (following the December 16 game against Batley) had that match not been postponed.

CHATTY Leigh Deakin will be back in action tomorrow having recoved quicker than expected from a broken jaw.

And coach Epifania, delighted that he's back so soon, reckons he knows the reason behind his speedy recovery.

"The fracture was probably caused by him talking too much and has probably healed quickly because they taped his mouth up!" he joked.

Updated: 11:50 Saturday, March 02, 2002