Worcester stung by Watson hat-trick

MARCUS Watson scored a second-half hat-trick as Wasps eventually swept aside Worcester Warriors at the Ricoh Arena.

After edging a turgid opening period 8-3 Watson sparked his side into life with two of his three scores coming in the final 16 minutes.

Josh Bassett also crossed at the death to seal a bonuspoint victory.

But it was not enough to send Wasps through to the semi-finals of the Premiership Cup with Saracens taking the best runner-up spot.

Director of rugby Dai Young admitted the first half was “difficult viewing” but was pleased his team kept plugging away until Warriors’ resilience cracked.

“The ball carriers seemed to be running into brick walls in the first half,” Young said.

“But once you keep running into brick walls hopefully you are going to break them down.

“We started to get our nose through the contact and I’m pretty confident that once we can put some of our faster guys into space with some front-foot ball they can score some tries.”

Wasps got off the best possible start as a driving lineout resulted in Tom Cruse touching down under a pile of bodies on two minutes.

Anyone who thought that might light the touch paper were proved very wrong as both sides struggled to convert pressure due to countless sloppy mistakes.

Warriors opened their account on 18 minutes courtesy of Duncan Weir’s boot to cut the deficit to 5-3. And this was how it stayed until Billy Searle landed a long-range penalty on the stroke of half-time.

The fly-half was on target again shortly after the interval before Wasps provided a moment of quality that the match was desperate for.

Dan Robson kicked the ball through to Watson who was on hand to score under the posts. Searle’s conversion put Wasps 18-3 in front.

Weir dispatched a penalty but missed his next opportunity before Wasps upped the ante.

Fly-half Lima Sopoaga fed Watson who burst through a big hole in Worcester’s defence to score on 64 minutes.

The two combined again two minutes later with the same result as Watson went over to complete his hattrick.

Wasps then wrapped things up with a late score from Bassett after a fine break from Nizaam Carr.

A disappointed Warriors boss Alan Solomons said: “We paid the price for our mistakes.

“At times our set piece was not where we would like it to be, but these things happen.

“These games are important to take the lessons out of.”