Leicester rue ‘crazy’ red card as Wasps edge home in thriller
If Lima Sopoaga, the All Black flyhalf, was hoping for a Super Rugby type extravaganza full of thrills, spills and incident on his starting debut for Wasps then he got it with eight tries, a see-saw contest and a controversial red card against Leicester lock Will Spencer for a reckless tackle on hooker Tommy Taylor just before half-time.
The match will go down in the annals of the Premiership as one of its finest. Sopoaga would be the first to testify to the level of skill, of nerve, of audacity and – in the case of Leicester going at it at full pelt despite playing 41 minutes with 14 men – courage being very much the equal of anything he might have experienced with the Highlanders.
To Wasps go the winning points, to Leicester two bonus points for tries and a narrow margin of defeat – but, more tellingly, enormous credit for their spirit and their togetherness. From crisis to redemption within a fortnight.
Spencer’s dismissal by referee Ian Tempest, as Tigers were clawing their way back into the match, provides a major talking point, and not just within the context of the match itself. “It was crazy, the game has gone a bit too PC,” said Geordan Murphy, Leicester’s new head coach.
“I didn’t think it was a red. The game is going to be a different game to the one I played. It’s a bitter pill. I’m not sure what coaches and players they are consulting [about the laws]. There was no real danger to the player. It’s killed the game really.”
Spencer, at 6ft 7in, moved in for a tackle on Taylor and hit him relatively high, around shoulder level, seemingly riding up towards his head.
By the letter of the law, it was a forceful impact and Tempest was within his rights to dismiss the 26-year-old. Yet it appeared harsh.
If only there were a middle ground between yellow and red cards, a report system, perhaps, as in rugby league. It was not a malicious or extremely dangerous action. But the best intentions of the game are to protect players from head injuries, to reduce the extreme levels of concussion, and that is why the laws are in place and why Tempest did what he did.
“It was harsh but we have all had the directive and if it had been yellow, I would not have complained,” said Dai Young, Wasps’ director of rugby. “I hope he’s not banned. It is difficult to get those decisions 100 per cent right all the time, but they have big bearings on games. It [the issue] is not going to go away.”
Leicester’s sense of grievance fuelled a magnificent riposte, the sort of edgy, hard-nosed reaction we expected of Leicester teams of old but had not seen anything like as often of late.
Yet this is a club with deep roots and a team already rallying behind Murphy, and they struck hard at the start of the second half, barging their way through for a try from No8 Sione Kalamafoni. That set the tone, with a Jonny May try and George Ford’s boot almost producing a miraculous outcome, but it was not to be as Sopoaga first drew Wasps level and then closed out the game with two more penalties.
In some ways, the sending-off created the backdrop for a rip-roaring second half. Wasps might have thought they were in the driving seat after a first half that saw them score three tries through centre Juan de Jongh, wing Josh Bassett and No8 Nathan Hughes.
Leicester had begun strongly, with Manu Tuilagi prominent, thrusting forward, doing damage, a sight to bring joy to Tigers and England fans alike. Yet they did not have enough composure to make the pressure tell and, by the 15th minute, they were trailing to De Jongh’s first try, a fortunate score in that Tigers’ full-back Telusa Veainu had been flattened upfield after blocking a kick from Elliot Daly with his face.
Wasps took full advantage, De Jongh receiving an inside pass from