Wasps stunned by Harlequins

Harlequins caused a shock in the Premiership on Sunday as they came away from the Ricoh Arena with a 24-21 victory over Wasps.

Tries from Marland Yarde and Charlie Walker, along with the boot of Marcus Smith, saw them to their second victory of the new season.

For Wasps this was their first defeat of 2017/18 as tries from Christian Wade and Tom Cruse weren’t enough to beat their spirited visitors.

Smith and Danny Cipriani both kicked penalties to make it 3-3 on five minutes but it was Wasps who struck first from a try-scoring point of view as Wade raced over after a backline move that saw Willie le Roux provide the assist.

Things heated up on 20 minutes between James Haskell and Joe Marler with the former shown a yellow card for grabbing Marler around the throat. The England back-row was clearly rattled and given 10 minutes to cool down.

Following a Smith penalty Harlequins hit back with a try of their own from Yarde on 23 minutes, as a cross-kick was tapped down by Mike Brown to his wing. Despite Smith not adding the extras, Quins did boast an 11-10 lead.

That lead was short-lived however as Cipriani struck off the tee three minutes before the break with a penalty that nudged Wasps 13-11 up.

Harlequins responded well soon after the break with wing Walker racing over the whitewash following some superb build-up play, centre Joe Marchant with the offload. Smith added the extras to put Quins back in front at 18-13.

But the game was tied up on 54 minutes as a rolling maul saw hooker Cruse cash in, with Cipriani unsuccessful with the resulting extras.

Cipriani made it 21-18 soon after but was then yellow carded, allowing Smith to level matters once more, setting up a grandstand finish.

And the youngster made no mistake again on 72 minutes to hand Harlequins a 24-21 buffer, which the visitors managed to hold onto, sealing a memorable win that lifts them up to fifth position in the Premiership after three matches.

The scorers:

For Wasps:
Tries: Wade, Cruse
Cons: Cipriani
Pens: Cipriani 3
Yellow Card: Haskell, Cipriani

For Harlequins:
Tries: Yarde, Walker
Con: Smith
Pens: Smith 4
Yellow Card: Sinckler

Wasps: 15 Willie Le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Gaby Lovobalavu, 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 Alex Rieder, 5 Will Rowlands, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Matt Mullan
Replacements: 16 Ashley Johnson, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Marcus Garratt, 20 James Haskell, 21 Craig Hampson, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Juan De Jongh

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Mat Luamanu, 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 George Merrick, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Elia Elia, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 Ben Glynn, 20 Archie White, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Harry Sloan

Referee: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Paul Dix
TMO: David Rose