Wasps win Singa Premiership Rugby 7s title

Wasps lifted the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s Cup for the second straight year with a 26-12 victory over 2011 champions Newcastle Falcons.

Dan Robson put Wasps in front only for Adam Radwan, with his seventh try of the tournament, and Cameron Cowell to put the Falcons ahead against the reigning champions.

Christian Wade, the hero of the 2016 final, restored Wasps lead before half-time and player of the tournament Josh Bassett went over for his seventh try of the campaign shortly after the break.

Craig Hampson made sure of the result with Wasps’ fourth try of the final with Gabiriele Lovobalavu adding further gloss to the reigning champions in the final moments.  

Exeter Chiefs, 26-14 winners over Saracens in the quarter-finals, met Wasps in the first semi-final in a re-run of last year’s Singha Premiership Rugby 7s after Wasps beat Sale 27-10 in their last eight tie.

Tom O’Flaherty got the Exeter Chiefs off to the perfect start with an early score but the reigning champions replied with a converted Bassett score.

Max Bodilly restored the Chiefs advantage before the break but a converted Bassett try put Wasps back ahead almost immediately following the resumption of play.

The pendulum continued to swing back and forth as O’Flaherty and Christian Wade exchanged tries and with the clock gone dead Wasps just held on for a 21-17 victory to book their final spot.

Harlequins met Newcastle in the other semi-final after the former saw off Gloucester in the quarters and the Falcons seeing off Worcester Warriors.

Nathan Thomas put Harlequins ahead in the semi-final but tries from Simon Uzokwe, Ben Stevenson and Cowell, against the team he played for in last year’s competition, put Falcons in control.

Uzokwe added a second try after the break to extend the lead to 24-7 before Calum Waters and Niall Saunders brought Harlequins right back into the game at 24-19.

Ibitoye managed to force extra-time with a try in the final seconds after Harlequins missed the conversion that would have sent them through. And it proved to be costly as Stevenson broke away down the right hand side to get the first point of extra-time and send the Falcons through to the Cup final.

Cup Quarter-Finals:

Wasps 27-10 Sale
Worcester 24-28 Newcastle
Gloucester 24-26 Harlequins
Exeter Chiefs 26-14 Saracens

Cup Semi-Finals:

Wasps 21-17 Exeter Chiefs
Harlequins 24-29 Newcastle Falcons (AET)

Cup Final:

Wasps 31-12 Newcastle Falcons