Wasps’ double whammy

WASPS fear they could be without Nathan Hughes for another extended period after the England No8 was forced off in Saturday’s Heineken Cup defeat by Toulouse.

Hughes, right, went off after taking a big hit from Joe Tekori in the 21st minute at the Ricoh Arena in what was his second game back for the club after a six-week suspension. He was on crutches after the match.

“It’s a hip and pelvis injury. He’s in a lot of pain but the next 48 hours will tell us more,” said director of rugby Dai Young.

Wasps’ interest in Europe ended in a disappointing 24-16 reverse, which was their first home pool defeat by French opposition since Stade Francais won at Loftus Road 17 years ago. They and Bath are still without a win at the halfway point of the group stages in Pool One after Todd Blackadder’s side went down 17-10 at the Rec to champions Leinster. Jordan Larmour’s interception try proved the turning point as the Irish province eventually shook off a tenacious Bath, whose England wing Joe Cokanasiga limped off late in the game. “With the quality of the players on the pitch, that was near enough a Test match and in a Test match you get one or two moments to win or lose the game and unfortunately we lost those,” said Bath captain Charlie Ewels. Exeter are also out after a 27-19 defeat by Gloucester in Pool Two. Second-half tries from Jaco Visagie and Ben Morgan did the damage for Johan Ackermann’s side, who played the testing conditions smartly at Sandy Park and now have a genuine shot of making the knockout stages.

“We matched them in the territory part, where normally they win that, so that was crucial for us,” said Ackermann.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter blamed a mental block for the Chiefs’ continuing problems in Europe. “It has to come down to the thought process,” he said.

“If we have 10 players going, ‘This is how we play in the Premiership, this is what we should be doing’, but interspersed with them is five guys going, ‘This is Europe, it’s going to be a bit tougher, it’s different’, the machine starts to stutter.”