Injury-hit Wasps land late stinger
WASPS edged a thriller at The Rec with a penalty try five minutes from time to leapfrog their hosts into fourth in the Premiership.
Jack Walker’s try looked to have sealed the win for Bath but a driving maul off a 5m lineout was brought down illegally by Sam Underhill to earn Wasps a seven-pointer, with the England flanker ending the game in the sin-bin.
Wasps were decimated by injuries in the first half leading to uncontested scrums. Thomas Young (head) went off after three minutes, fly-half Sopoaga (hamstring) followed on 23 minutes and first-choice hooker Tommy Taylor (ankle) two minutes later.
Taylor’s replacement Gabriel Oghre lasted just eight minutes before having to go off with a head injury. Starting loosehead prop Tom West declined to play as hooker in contested scrums meaning the game went to uncontested scrums with prop Simon McIntyre and scrum-half Dan Robson both used as lineout throwers.
Wasps head coach Lee Blackett said: “It’s up there with one of the best results in terms of the way we adapted. Everything was thrown at us, every possible scenario, every injury and just the way we adapted was really pleasing.
“We came here confident. We didn’t want a start like that – we didn’t get the field position right, we made too many errors and gifted them too many points early – but I was really impressed and proud with how we fought our way back in, especially with all the injuries.”
Ruaridh McConnochie grabbed the first try after 90 seconds when Sopoaga’s ambitious long pass led to a fumble by Malakai Fekitoa, which was gathered up by
McConnochie, who sprinted into the corner for his third try since the league restart.
Priestland added two penalties as Bath led 13-0 after ten minutes. Sopoaga reduced the gap with a penalty and Jacob Umaga’s 26th-minute try brought the visitors back into the game. A superb dummy by Dan Robson wrong-footed the defence before he offloaded to his half-back partner, who went on to add a penalty as the half ended level.
Priestland’s third penalty put Bath ahead and Wasps had to defend on their own line for a long period before some excellent running rugby set up West to crash over and give his side the lead for the first time in the 55th minute.
Walker scored from a driving maul to put Bath three points up with 12 minutes left but Wasps’ pack got the last word.
Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper said: “Disappointed is definitely the word. We didn’t adapt well enough and didn’t get the points on the board.
“But it’s not terminal, we’ve still got an opportunity to push for the top four and that’s the motivating factor at the moment.”