Johnson turns on the power for Wasps
WASPS needed to produce some no-frills rugby to subdue stubborn Agen at the Ricoh Stadium.
The French visitors were softened up by the home pack who engineered the first three tries from forward drives.
It wasn’t pretty but the power brought two tries for flanker Ashley Johnson and one for hooker Tommy Taylor.
These combative Wasps were backed up by the goalkicking of fly-half Jacob Umaga who contributed 12 points alongside some pinpoint touch finders.
Just to finish off Agen, Malakai Fekitoa, the former All Blacks centre, raced clear in the 65th minute for his first try in Wasps colours.
A young Agen team, beaten by Edinburgh at home last week, scored first and last but in between did not have the sustained possession for an upset.
Overall, it was a good afternoon for the young Umaga, 21, trying to establish himself in the Wasps squad.
Though he gave way for the last 20 minutes to Lima Sapoaga, Umaga is becoming a valued member of a squad now bolstered by fitagain Jimmy Gopperth who played the last 20 minutes at centre.
Umaga said Sapoaga had given him plenty of advice in the lead up and acknowledged he was highly likely to give way for next Saturday’s Premiership trip to Exeter.
“I’m happy to learn from such players,” he said after an appearance where the Wasps fans voted him manof-the-match.
That award could easily have gone to Johnson who was the driving force once Joe Launchbury had to go off in the 16th minute.
The England lock had made his weight count in leading the forward drive for the first try for Johnson which cancelled out Agen’s opener by Loris Tolot.
Launchbury pulled up six minutes later to give a European debut to Thibauld Flament, the Loughborough
University recruit who has joined the academy this season.
Flament, whose rugby career has already taken him to Argentina, followed the example of Launchbury and was in the thick of another forward drive which almost brought a further try.
Wasps led 13-7 at the interval after relying on Umaga for that lead, the flyhalf slotting two penalty goals and a conversion of Johnson’s try.
A good start by Wasps after the break made them certain of victory. Again, it was the forwards who paved the way.
Taylor emerged the try scorer from the drive in the 42nd minute while Johnson added his second eight minutes later. Umaga converted.
Wasps found another way of scoring when some good midfield work gave Fekitoa the opportunity to burst clear from 20 metres for a try which Umaga improved.
Agen never gave up and gained a second try, this time from replacement hooker Fernandez Correa, when Wasps had lost Italian international Matteo Minozzi to the sin bin.
The full-back was shown the yellow card after he blocked release following a try-saving tackle on Agen’s
Xavier Chauveau.
This tackle followed another piece of good work by the Italian when he raced back to collect a kick ahead and escaped the Agen tacklers by slithering through the legs of an opponent.
It was a cameo moment in match of few memorable moments.