Carr’s late score gives battling Wasps the edge
Christmas was cancelled at Wasps but New Year’s Eve should be some party, after Nizaam Carr’s superb late try snatched victory at Ashton Gate and resuscitated the club’s season.
Second-half tries from Jacob Umaga, Malakai Fekitoa, Matteo Minozzi and Carr gave Wasps not only a bonus-point win, but their second Gallagher Premiership victory in seven matches this season, as Bristol missed their chance to go to the top of the table.
“I have not doubted the commitment and the attitude of the players. Some have, but I have not. There is nothing like winning for confidence,” said Wasps director of rugby Dai Young, who revealed he was in the lift down to the dressing rooms when Carr scored.
“I do not think we are a top-four team, which some Wasps fans will be annoyed about. We are in a building phase, but we should be in a better position than we have been over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully that win will give us the confidence and belief to kick on for the rest of the season.”
Wasps started well but then things began to unravel, coughing up three quick penalties. Callum Sheedy, the Bristol fly-half, punished them with a strike from 40 metres out to make it 3-0.
The visitors were still missing star fly-half Lima Sopoaga due to illness and his young replacement, Umaga, struggled early on off tee, sending two penalties wide as both sides were unable to get into a rhythm, the sluggish start summed up by Alapati Leiua’s comical pass to the spectators in the first row with Bristol on the attack.
The short-range approach seemed to be working for Wasps over the course of 15 phases, until Dan Robson was sent scampering backwards, forcing Wasps to look wide towards Marcus Watson. The wing was put away down the touchline before being thumped into touch short of the line by a brilliant tackle from Charles Piutau, killing off Wasps’ best chance of the first half as they went into the break undeservedly behind.
The second half, in contrast to the first, was sensational, with Wasps taking a deserved early lead. Joe Launchbury’s turnover led to an Umaga show-and-go that sent the young No10 clear to score by the posts and he atoned for his earlier misses off the tee as Wasps moved ahead 7-3.
Sheedy slashed the deficit to one point with an impressive longrange penalty after Wasps strayed offside, as Bristol came to life, Leiua’s excellent rip in the tackle putting them on the attack. Wasps’ defence held initially but after the hosts created space on the outside there was no stopping Piutau.
Wasps’ response was superb, Fekitoa making amends with a slaloming solo run that saw him round Toby Fricker to score, with Umaga converting, before Watson’s break from a set-piece attack cut Bristol open again, with Wasps recycling to put Minozzi over in the corner for his first try for the club and a 19-13 advantage.
Bristol counter-punched through a rolling maul try by Harry Thacker but Sheedy’s missed conversion left Wasps ahead by a point heading into a tense final 10 minutes. A penalty against Launchbury at the maul handed Bristol three points, before Carr’s moment of magic, fending off Fricker and then beating Nathan Hughes and Piutau to score in the corner.
“The biggest disappointment is that we let a lot of people down today by not finishing that game off,” admitted Bristol director Pat Lam. “Even had we won, we would have still been disappointed because of the mistakes that we made.”