Wasps see off 14-man Worcester
Wasps consolidated their position at the top of the table when they claimed a 40-33 win over Worcester Warriors at the Ricoh Arena on Sunday.
Although the home side held the upperhand for large periods, the complexion of the match changed in the 46th minute when Worcester right wing Bryce Heem received a red card for upending Willie le Roux in an aerial challenge.
At the time the sides were level at 19-19 but Heem’s departure allowed Wasps to take control of proceedings and in the end they outscored the Warriors by six tries to five.
The win means Wasps are now five points ahead of their nearest rivals, Exeter Chiefs, in the standings while Worcester picked up two bonus points which puts them nine points clear of Bristol at the bottom the table.
Worcester made a superb start and after spending most of the opening exchanges camped close to Wasps’ try-line, they went on a drive before the ball came out to Heem, who barged over from close quarters for the opening try in the fifth minute.
Five minutes later, Wasps launched an attack down the right wing with Wade and Le Roux doing well on attack and soon the hosts were camped inside Worcester’s 22.
From there Will Rowlands ran onto a pass from Jimmy Gopperth and twisted and turned through a couple of tackles before crossing for his side’s opening try.
Shortly afterwards, Wade left his stamp on this match with a moment of brilliance with ball in hand. The flyer made a superb line break and beat four defenders before crossing for his side’s second try, with Gopperth’s conversion meaning Wasps were leading 12-5.
Worcester did not take that lying down, however, and struck back with a try from Josh Adams who ran onto a pass from Francois Hougaard before dotting down in the left hand corner, after the Warriors went on a lineout drive in the build-up.
Ryan Mills added the extras which drew his side level and in the 39th minute Adams crashed over for his second try out wide but the home side struck back when Wade also completed his brace after another blistering run down the touchline.
Gopperth’s conversion meant the sides were deadlocked at 19-19 at half-time.
Six minutes after the restart, Heem received his marching orders for taking out Le Roux in the air and the home side made full use of their numerical advantage as they scored 21 unanswered points – thanks to converted tries from Alapati Leiua, Josh Bassett and Brendan Macken – during the next 20 minutes.
To their credit Worcester did not surrender and they finished strongly thanks to late tries from Biyi Alo and Jackson Willison in the game’s closing stages.
The scorers:
For Wasps:
Tries: Rowlands, Wade 2, Leiua, Bassett, Macken
Cons: Gopperth 4, Cipriani
Yellow Card: Mullan
For Worcester Warriors:
Tries: Heem, Adams 2, Alo, Willison
Cons: Mills 4
Red Card: Heem
Wasps: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alapati Leiua, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Willie Le Roux, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Alex Rieder, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Haskell, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Marty Moore, 2 Ashley Johnson (c), 1 Simon McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Matt Symons, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Brendan Macken, 23 Josh Bassett
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Ryan Mills, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Marco Mama, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Chris Vui, 5 Will Spencer, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (c), 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Dewald Potgieter, 21 Luke Baldwin, 22 Perry Humphreys, 23 Dean Hammond
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Ian Tempest, Simon McConnell
TMO: David Grashoff