MIKE FORD believes tomorrow's (Saturday's) curtain raiser with London Wasps at Twickenham will provide an early barometer of how far his side have progressed over the summer.

Sarries finished last season as the league's form horse with their only defeat in their last eight matches coming away at Wasps. And they will be looking to extend that run by ambushing the champions on the opening day for the second successive season.

"I am really looking forward to the challenge immensely and to see how we are going to do," said the head coach. "A few people have tipped us this year so I'm sure their (Wasps) preparation will be spot on as well.

"Last year we caught them cold but this year we have got a bit more steel in us and it will be interesting to see how far off the champions we are."

The game also marks the first since Diamond and Ford officially joined forces following an internal coaching restructure in the summer.

They ran the rule over Wasps in their final pre-season friendly against the Ospreys and have been formulating a game-plan to counter Ian McGeechan's side for some time.

"It's a massive game and we'll be ready for it," declared Ford. "We've been preparing for Wasps since the start of pre-season we didn't do any analysis on Harlequins, it's all been about Wasps.

"There is no league table at the moment everyone is on an even keel in terms of match preparation. It's usually a good time to catch the champions before they find their feet and start stringing a few wins together," added Ford who, in a fascinating sub plot, will be pits his wits against Shaun Edwards, his former rugby league team-mate.

"It will be good. I'm looking forward to pitting my wits against every coach and answering a few questions of myself," he said. "Everyone has been looking forward to it for some time and I can't wait."

Injury has robbed Saracens of the services of Tevita Vaikona (heel), Simon Raiwalui (thumb), Andy Farrell (toe), Kyran Bracken (nose), Richard Hill (knee) and Mark Bartholomeusz (neck) while Taine Randell has been given permission to miss the game to attend the birth of his second child.

Diamond has also resisted the temptation to pitch Alex Sanderson into the heat of the battle, opting instead to give the homegrown back-row triumvirate of Ben Skirving, Dave Seymour and Ben Russell their head.

Captain Hugh Vyvyan, Sarries' top line-out forward last season, will switch from his preferred spot of number eight to the second row where he will be joined by Kris Chesney, who will fill the enforcers roll left by the injury to Simon Raiwalui.

The Fijian lock though, is expected to be in contention for next week's home game with Leeds, as is Vaikona, the Player of the Year.