NOT ALF HOT
Barbeary seals epic Wasps win
Wasps 30 Toulouse
Adam Hathaway
WASPS boss Lee Blackett claimed this was one of his best days at the club as his side defied Jacob Umaga’s red card to humble the European champions.
Umaga was sent off for a high tackle on 33 minutes but somehow Wasps – with Alfie Barbeary brilliant in the back row – got home. Tries from Biyi Alo, Brad Shields (below) and Barbeary, and Jimmy Gopperth’s boot, made it the greatest victory Wasps have enjoyed since winning this competition in 2007.
Umaga’s card was his second in two games after he was sent off against
Boxing Day against
London Irish and this was his first match back. But
Wasps, who leaked a try in the first minute, reorganised their back three and piled into the French leaving Blackett (right) beaming more than in six years at the club.
He said: “It would have to be up there with the best wins – it’s the way we won. In the first 10 minutes we gave them too much respect. The first try was soft.
“Then there was an air of confidence the more and more we built into the game. We started to move the ball really well and we
managed to get field position with some good attacking kicks.
“How we managed the red card is the most pleasing thing.”
Referee Chris Busby, in his first Champions Cup game,
came down hard on
Umaga when he tackled Toulouse scrum-half
Martin Page Relo and the pair clashed heads. But fly-half Charlie Atkinson was tackling Relo around the legs forcing his head down so Umaga may have been unlucky.
Toulouse No.8 Anthony Jelonch escaped with a yellow for a headhigh challenge on Barbeary in the second half but that could have been different on another day with another referee.
Blackett added: “It’s difficult when people are changing direction but as long as we lower our height we don’t bring in the interpretation of the referee. For their one, it looked aggressive.
“Without listening to what the referee said I can see why he would give a yellow as there was probably a
fraction of mitigation with him going down, but it could easily have been red.
“Jacob is gutted. He was outstanding in the first half at 15. He gave us a real edge bit now unfortunately we are sat here and are looking at another ban.”
Barbeary capped his man-ofthe-match performance with the game-breaking try on 67 minutes.
He charged off a scrum, then re-gathered the ball and bulldozed over. The win leaves Wasps heading to Munster next weekend with a shot at the last 16.
WASPS: Tries: Alo, Shields, Barbeary; Cons: Gopperth 3; Pens: Gopperth 3. TOULOUSE: Tries: Cros, Mauvaka, Cramont; Con: Ramos 2; Pen: Ramos