Ward sweating after stamp and ‘spit’ row
HARLEQUINS hooker Dave Ward faces an anxious wait to find out if further action will be taken by the citing officer after his first half stamp on Thomas Young and an alleged spitting incident overshadowed a match bristling with feisty intent.
Ward looked fortunate to escape a red card for treading on Young’s ankle – an act that left Wasps boss Dai Young fuming following his side’s fifth straight defeat.
Young said: “I can’t comment on a spitting incident but we’ve seen the stamp and there’s no need for that rubbish. The game’s hard enough without that nonsense; it was plain to see him (Ward) walking over and stamping on someone’s ankle.
“It could have been a red card but that’s for the officials to look at. It would be pretty weak of me to say that was the difference between us winning and losing.”
An error-strewn match that rarely rose above the mediocre saw Wasps enjoy large tracts of possession. However, Alex Dombrandt’s first-minute try, added to a second half effort from Joe Marchant was enough to nullify Will Stuart’s riposte.
Dombrandt’s score – a well-worked lineout effort involving Ward and Matt Symons – came after Wasps conceded a penalty from the kick-off. Then, after Ward had been sent to the cooler, replacement hooker Max Crumpton overthrew a second lineout but Quins regathered and Smith slotted a penalty after Young went off his feet.
Marchant failed to reach Mike Brown’s grubber after the England full-back had raced on to Francis Saili’s deft offload. Willie Le Roux then prompted a rare Wasps attack, combining with Elliot Daly before Nizaam Carr knocked on.
Sopoaga sent Josh Bassett racing clear as Wasps hit their stride, with Brad Shields and Carr posing a threat. They were rewarded when Joe Marler hit the deck at scrum-time, enabling Daly to stroke over the three-pointer.
Brown halted Bassett as the Wasps wing threatened and the half ended with Quins extending their lead to 13-3, Smith bagging his second penalty after Sopoaga fielded Daly’s hospital pass and was swamped by tacklers.
Wasps emerged strongly and a Dan Robson dart almost caught Quins napping. Smith cleared but Wasps threatened again, only for Robson to knock-on after Daly, Sopoaga and Shields had combined to create an opening.
The final pass was wasted far too often by Wasps – a case in point being Bassett’s fumble from Robson’s offload after Tom Cruse and Shields engineered space.
Harlequins blew a chance as Saili threatened before Wasps mauled close to the home line, only to be turned over. Wasps responded in kind and Will Stuart finished, but their joy was short-lived as Young was pinged for failing to roll away. After Smith found the corner and George Merrick had collected the lineout, Danny Care’s inch-perfect grubber was gleefully finished by Marchant.
Wasps might have folded but Sopoaga reduced the deficit to 20-13 after Care’s high shot on Michele Campagnaro before the visitors mounted a period of pressure, ended when De Jongh was hammered into touch.