Myall’s back in business but Mulipola shove proves decisive
KEARNAN Myall played all Wasps’ ALeague clash against Leicester on Monday but it was not enough to stop the Tigers leaving Broadstreet RFC with a 33-20 victory.
The England Saxons lock was making his return after missing the end of last season with a knee injury. But it was another experienced Premiership campaigner, prop Logovi’i Mulipola, who swung it for Leicester late on.
The giant Samoan came off the bench and won a succession of scrum penalties, the last one earning a penalty try to deny Wasps the losing bonus point.
Brendan Macken and Tom Howe went over for Wasps but Leicester matched them through Tom Brady and Jack Roberts to go with the penalty try and kicks from Oli Bryant and Tom Hardwick
Wasps assistant forwards coach Andy Titterrell said: “We came through without injuries, which was good and the guys that needed a bit of game time, like Kearnan, managed to get it.
“But credit to Leicester, they had some real firepower on their bench, which they brought on to great effect in the second half.
“Our boys stuck at it really well for the first 60 minutes or so. But we struggled to maintain possession and our discipline let us down, gifting Leicester field position.”
Neil McCarthy praised his Gloucester United side’s grit as they returned to the southern conference of the Aviva A League with a 22-19 victory over Saracens Storm.
Two tries from Greg Jackson and one from David Halaifonua put the home side 22-14 to the good at half-time.
England U20s international George Perkins got the only points of the secondhalf for Saracens but the Gloucester defence held on at Kingsholm to open their season with a win.
“We want to try and change the mentality in this group of young lads to players who won’t accept a defeat, ” said McCarthy, whose side had moved over from the northern conference ahead of the new season.
“For us to get across the line, having to dog it out and graft was unbelievably good as there were a lot of young lads out there.”
Bristol got their campaign off to the perfect start with a 37-26 bonus point win over Harlequins A.
Max Crumpton, Charlie Amesbury, Giorgi Nemsadze and Jordan Williams all crossed the whitewash for Bristol with Billy Searle racking up 17 points with a 100 per cent kicking display.
Newcastle Falcons had a try bonus point before half-time against Northampton Warriors and they scored six in total through Sam Egerton, Ben Sowrey 2, Max Davies, Nick Civetta and Reiss Cullen.
The Wanderers replied through Rory Hutchinson, Howard Packman and Juan Pablo Estelles but were unable to prevent a 38-21 defeat.
Sale Jets also got their new season off to a winning start by beating Worcester Cavaliers 13-11 as Nick Scott’s try proved decisive.