Lucas has the force for a Wasps victory
Wasps .................... 37pts Glos-H’pury .......... 17pts
WASPS secured a hard-fought victory over Gloucester-Hartpury in a hard-fought affair in Round 11.
With both teams eager for the victory, Wasps bounced back from last week’s defeat to Quins with an incredible performance earning seven tries.
The game started with a high intensity as Gloucester-Hartpury set the tone of the afternoon.
It took 15 minutes for Gloucester to break through the Wasps defence, eventually moving the ball nicely out to Kelly Smith to score.
The visitors resumed the pressure straight from the kick-off but this time Wasps’ defence held strong.
And Wasps reply came in the 30th minute as winger Tova Derk showed an incredible burst of pace to get her side back into the match.
With the momentum, the hosts pushed on for a second try and it came in the 34th minute. Rocky Clarke powering through the Gloucester tackles to score.
On the brink of half-time after Gloucester’s Ceri Large was shown a yellow, Wasps managed to score their third. Amy Cokayne breaking through the tackles to extend the lead to 17-5 going into half-time.
It did not take long after the break for Wasps to bag another try and the bonus point.
With just three minutes of the second half played it was Justine Lucas who got try number four and soon after winger Abby Dow, with pace to burn, sped into the corner to secure Wasps’ fifth try.
Back to their full compliment, Gloucester-Hartpury took a quick penalty which was exploited by Hannah Jones to reduce the deficit to 27-10 after 50 minutes.
However, Wasps remained composed and after withstanding a short period of pressure, Lucas went over for her second to make it 32-10 to the home side.
With Wasps once again carrying the momentum they pushed on for even more points. And it didn’t take long to materialise as Rocky Clarke went over after a successful Wasps lineout.
A late try from Bethan Lewis for Gloucester-Hartpury in the 69th minute closed the gap to 37-17 but it was too late for the hosts to be denied the full five points.
The win keeps Wasps third in the league table but they are still 12 points behind Harlequins in second. Gloucester’s poor form however goes on, they have lost three in a row dating back to their victory over Firwood Waterloo in Round Eight.