Unbeaten Wasps too good for Harlequins

Editor

Wasps retained their unbeaten status after notching a deserved 47-18 victory over Harlequins at the Ricoh Arena on Sunday.

Seven different try scorers secured the emphatic victory for the Coventry side with the visitors feeling hard done by in the heavy defeat, having shown moments of class, particularly in the first half.

The hosts had the bonus point wrapped up inside a first half which provided little in the way of answers as to which way the points would be headed come full-time.

However, the second half was a different story and three more tries from the home team saw Quins remain 10th in the table with Wasps continuing with their fine start to the season to go three points clear at the summit.

A blistering first half saw the two sides share six tries with Wasps dominating for large spells of the contest. Ashley Johnson’s line-out resulted in the South African striking first for the hosts, though Gopperth missed the conversion.

Harlequins levelled after Marland Yarde broke free of the backs before teeing up Jamie Roberts with Tim Swiel also missing the extras.

Wasps recovered well, retaking the lead less than three minutes later. Guy Thompson spotted a hole in the defence and just getting the ball over the line with Gopperth this time adding the extras.

A couple of Swiel penalties for the visitors either side of scrum-half Dan Robson’s try via a grubber kick meant the game could still swing either way. However, the home team had their bonus point when centre Elliot Daly dummied to Christian Wade, allowing himself a clear run at the try-line from 35 metres out.

Just as it looked like being over at half-time, the visitors brought themselves back into the contest through Ross Chisholm, who took advantage of some slack defending to cross the whitewash with Swiel making it 26-18 at the break. By comparison, the second half started slowly as Harlequins searched for a way back into the match, continuing their dominance in possession without being able to convert it into further tries.

They paid the price as Wasps hit two quick fire converted tries around the hour mark. Sam Jones was the man who instigated the first, making ground forward before being stopped in his tracks.

Fortunately for him, Wade was on hand to take the ball down in the empty corner. Having waited so long for a try in the second half, it took less than 10 minutes for the next to come with Kyle Eastmond scoring his first try for Wasps since his summer move after Nathan Hughes’ initial run.

A seventh Wasps try followed with five minutes left on the clock. This time, Josh Bassett was the man to get his name on the scoresheet, scoring for the second game in succession with Gopperth converting for the sixth time in a row to end the game in emphatic style.

The scorers:

For Wasps:
Tries: Johnson, Thompson, Robson, Daly, Wade, Eastmond, Bassett
Cons: Gopperth 6

For Harlequins:
Tries:
Roberts, Chisholm
Con: Swiel
Pens: Swiel 2

Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 Sam Jones, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Matt Symons, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Ashley Johnson, 1 Matt Mullan (c)
Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Marty Moore, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Thomas Young, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Kyle Eastmond, 23 Frank Halai

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Alofa Alofa, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 James Chisholm, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 George Merrick, 3 Will Collier, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Mark Lambert
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 George Naoupu, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 James Lang, 23 Winston Stanley

Referee: Greg Garner
Assistant Referees: John Meredith, Nigel Carrick
TMO: Trevor Fisher