Sarries leave it late at Adams Park

Editor

Saracens were forced to overturn a half-time deficit to claim a 22-13 Premiership victory over London Wasps at Adams Park on Saturday.

Saracens were forced to overturn a half-time deficit to claim a 22-13 Premiership victory over London Wasps at Adams Park on Saturday.

Saracens left it late as Chris Ashton's try and three penalties from Owen Farrell snatched victory in last quarter.

Wasps had been defeated narrowly by Northampton a week earlier, while Saracens had wind in their sails following a win over Harlequins.

The hosts made a tremendous start to the match and held a 13-point advantage with less than 15 minutes played.

Elliot Daly got the ball rolling for Wasps with a penalty goal and he added a second, after Christian Wade intercepted to race over for the game's first try.

13-0 down, Saracens sprung into life and by half-time they'd reduced the deficit to just five points.

Chris Wyles' try on 17 minutes, scored from a quickly-taken tap penalty, got Saracens off the mark and, though Farrell was wide with the conversion, his penalty just shy of the half-hour kept the visitors in contention.

Mouritz Botha saw yellow at the end of the first half for a deliberate knock-on, but Wasps were unable to make their numerical advantage count in the minutes following the restart.

Farrell's penalty just after the hour put Sarries to within two and the visitors had the lead on 66 minutes when Ashton latched on to Alex Goode's kick to crash over.

The conversion was missed, but a brace of penalties from Farrell in the final ten minutes took the game away from the hosts.

Sarries remained in control for much of the final quarter to confirm a frustrating afternoon for Wasps, who were unable to bounce back from the previous week's heartache against Northampton despite a promising start to the match.

The scorers:

For Wasps:
Try: Wade
Con: S. Jones
Pens: Daly 2
Yellow card: Taulafo

For Saracens:
Tries: Wyles, Ashton
Pens: Farrell 4
Yellow card: Botha

London Wasps: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Chris Bell, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Sam Jones, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Marco Wentzel (c), 4 Joe Launcbury, 3 Phil Swainston, 2 Tom Lindsay, 1 Zak Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 T Rhys Thomas, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Will Taylor, 19 Tom Palmer, 20 Jonathan Poff, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Nick Robinson, 23 Hugo Southwell.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Petrus du Plessis, 2 John Smit, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 George Kruis, 20 Jacques Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 David Strettle.

Venue: Adams Park
Referee: Martin Fox
Assistant referees: Andrew Pearce, Ashley Rowden