Match action
THIS was razor’s-edge rugby, with Wasps scrum-half Dan Robson slicing through for the winning try with just 59 seconds left of a dramatic match, to put the English league leaders within reaching distance of quarter-final qualification.
However, after a refereeing performance that left most of the Wasps fans in the 17,000 crowd at the Ricoh scratching their heads in disbelief, the overwhelming emotion was relief.
With Wasps on 17 points with a trip to Zebre to come, and only one behind Connacht – who have to travel to Toulouse – they are wellplaced, but without Robson’s last minute rescue they would have been struggling to qualify. That would have been a travesty, not just because they were scandalously robbed of victory by a refereeing error in Connacht, but because they are the best, and certainly most adventurous attacking team in this pool.
That they were not able to make their offensive prowess count against Toulouse was due to a combination of factors, with the French side’s sledgehammer defence one of them.
However, the other obstacle they had to overcome was that referee John Lacey allowed a virtual free-for-all at the breakdown, with Toulouse taking full advantage by ramming players into the contact area, irrespective of whether they were off their feet or in at the side.
If the Wasps pack looked underpowered in contact against a tank-like Toulouse eight, with only Ashley Johnson and flankers Thomas Young and Guy Thompson managing to break the gain-line with any regularity, the leeway the visitors were given by the referee made it doubly difficult.
Wasps not only finished the match well behind on the penalty count (14-9), they were also handicapped by having to play 20 minutes of the second-half with 14 men, with Christian Wade and Danny Cipriani yellowcarded.
Wasps could have no complaints when Wade was sent to the cooler for a tip tackle on the lively Toulouse No.8 Francois Cros early in the second- half, but Lacey’s decision to send Cipriani to the sin-bin and award Toulouse a penalty try with eight minutes remaining was rough justice.
A steaming Toulouse line-out drive from the edge of the Wasps 22 saw the visitors plough their way to within five metres of the the line, before a phalanx of four Toulouse forwards splintered off the main drive, ending the maul. Cipriani, who was defending on the fringes, targeted the ball-carrier, prop Vasil Kakovin, and ripped the ball off him as he plunged over the line.
The referee decided not to ask for a TMO review, and ruled instead that Cipriani was guilty of coming in at the side of the maul to prevent a try.
With Jean-Marc Doussain converting this gave Toulouse a 14-10 lead with eight minutes remaining, and Wasps a man down.
However, the idea that the Premiership side found themselves staring down the barrel of a gun at no fault of their own would be a distortion. That they turned round at the interval only 3-0 ahead, from a Jimmy Gopperth penalty, was a travesty mainly of their own making.
In the opening minutes Wasps wasted two giltedged scoring chances. The first saw Wade spear onto a Gopperth grubber before he sent Kurtley Beale racing into the Toulouse 22. However, brilliant Toulouse scrambling defence and a lack of poise on the part of the Wasps backs saw Joe Simpson and Josh Bassett scragged and a try go begging.
Moments later Simpson intercepted 70 metres out and lobbed the ball to Bassett, who could not control it and it flew up before falling on the full into the hands of of a full-tilt Young, who was home and dry – until the ball was ruled forward. It was a marginal call, and Wasps went away empty handed.
Toulouse were unable to capitalise because Doussain
missed two straightforward penalty attempts, but with full-back Maxime Medard and flanker Talalelei Gray keeping Wasps on their toes the match was in the balance.
Toulouse tilted it in their favour when, just after the break, they smashed Wasps off their own put-in, and a tramline assault by Christopher Tolofua and Joe Tekori resulted in Sebastien Bezy’s pass putting the high-speed Yoann Huget over.
With Doussain converting to make it 7-3, Wasps were in need of inspiration – and it came out of nowhere when Elliot Daly produced a moment of magic to weave between Thierry Dusautoir and Cyril Baille before racing in from 40 metres.
With Gopperth converting Wasps led 10-7, which is how it stayed until Toulouse’s penalty try. The frenzied Wasps assault that followed saw Thompson stopped just short, Wade held up over the line by Kunatani, and Huget charging up offside.
Then, with Toulouse out on their feet, Wasps found salvation – and justice – thanks to Robson’s quick tap penalty and darting run for the winning try, Gopperth adding the extras.