Wasps run amok to end Bristol hopes of trophy double
WASPS booked their place in their first Premiership final since their extra-time loss to Exeter in 2017, thanks to a punishing defensive effort which floored Bristol to put them within reach of their first English title for 12 years.
The speculation before the game was that this semifinal at the Ricoh between the league’s two best cutand-thrust attacking sides would produce a freeflowing classic.
However, while there were some classic individual performances, particularly by the Wasps turnover king ‘Jackalling’ Jack Willis, the reality was that Bristol were overwhelmed.
Bristol simply could not cope with the crunching Wasps physicality, whether in the tackle or the battle for the loose ball. And while Willis once more earned the superlatives heaped on him, as the tyro flanker acknowledged afterwards, it was the collective ferocity of the Wasps assault that won the match.
Bristol’s heavyweight No.8, Nathan Hughes, who said before the match that his move from the Ricoh to Ashton Gate had been the best career decision he could have made, had clearly hit a nerve with his former Wasps teammates. They swarmed all over Hughes, with Will Rowlands, Tommy Taylor, and Thomas Young, taking particular relish in cutting the big man down.
This was significant because Hughes is Bristol’s key forward carrier – and he showed briefly that, given room he can do plenty of damage, when he set up Luke Morahan’s first-half try. After that, he was not given an inch, with his Wasps assailants putting him on the deck before he could begin to rumble.
Hughes was not the only victim, because the intensity of the Wasps defensive press ruptured Bristol’s usually assured attacking links all over the pitch, with fly-half Callum Sheedy and main strike runners Semi Radradra, Max Malins and Morahan having to live off scraps.
What makes Wasps such a difficult proposition is that coach Lee Blackett has also sharpened them to a spear-point when they counter-attack from the mistakes they force from their opponents – as Bristol discovered to their cost.
Although the eventual try count was 5-4 in Wasps favour, the reality of this semi-final was that they were home and dry when they led 47-12 with 65 minutes on the clock. However, a rash of replacements, and an easing up of the defensive energy, allowed Bristol a couple of late tries to take some of the sting out of the scoreline.
The early exchanges saw Wasps put down a marker with fierce tackles by Malakai Fekitoa on Malins and Kieran Brooks on Piers O’Conor, and then take an early lead when Fekitoa scored the opening try.
It started with a Joe Launchbury line-out catch in the Bristol 22, but was created by a precision chipkick over the defensive line by Dan Robson, allowing the former All Black centre to race through to collect and score between the posts.
Jimmy Gopperth’s conversion made it 7-0, but it was not all good news because Fekitoa was forced off with a groin injury immediately afterwards, leaving Wasps without their midfield defensive linchpin.
No sooner had Michael Le Bourgeois come on as a replacement than Bristol, rather than testing him, were undone by their own indiscipline. This gave Gopperth two more penalty opportunities, which he nailed to give the home side a 13-0 lead midway through the first half.
At this stage Bristol had barely fired a shot, but when they won a scrum after a choke-tackle on Brad Shields from the restart, they finally hit the target. With the Wasps backs penalised for offside, a Hughes surge from a quick tap penalty and link with Andy Uren saw the scrumhalf ’s long lofted pass put Morahan over in the corner.
Wasps resumed normal service when a scrum collapse by John Afoa saw Gopperth on target again, making it 16-5, and they then stole a significant march going into the interval thanks to the irrepressible Willis.
It started with a Young break after the ball trickled out of an unguarded Bristol ruck, and when he linked with Josh Bassett, Willis was in support to charge for the line. When he was cut down just short, the Wasps pack went into pick-anddrive mode -- and Willis would not be denied again, this time drilling through a couple of tackles to ground the ball.
After the failsafe Gopperth added the extras, with a 23-5 half-time lead, Wasps had one foot in the final. However, with Bristol coach Pat Lam pressing the reset button during the break, the visitors started the second half in more businesslike mode, and a searing Morahan break might have yielded more but for a Joe Joyce knock-on.
Undeterred, Bristol kept coming, and a delayed pass by Sheedy saw Radradra burst into the Wasps 22, and when Uren carried the move on before being stopped a few metres out, Sheedy picked up and plunged over the line. Unfortunately for the Bristol fly-half, he had not reckoned with the uncanny anticipation or wrestling strength of Willis, who insinuated himself, octopuslike, between Sheedy and the turf.
This rare passage of Bristol pressure did eventually pay off when Harry Thacker touched down from a line-out drive, and with Sheedy converting, they briefly had a foothold.
What happened next was the match in a moment, which summed up why Wasps prevailed. It started with a chop-tackle by Youngs on Hughes, and with Willis and Shields coming in with the grappling hooks, another turnover penalty saw Gopperth stretch the
lead to 26-12. With a 14 point cushion, and the final quarter approaching, Wasps struck again when Robson took a quick tap penalty, and raced in to score behind referee Matthew Carley’s back as he was explaining his decision. When Carley ruled that Robson was within his rights to do so, Jimmy Gopperth’s conversion made it 33-12 on the hour.
It was the signal for Wasps to cut loose, and they buried Bristol when they scored twice in the next five minutes. The first came when Zach Kibirige swooped to race in from 75 metres after a wayward Siale Piutau pass, and the second when an inspired Gopperth crosskick was kept in play by a brilliant one-handed touchline catch by Bassett, who sent Matteo Minozzi clear.
Gopperth’s two conversions made it game, set and match – and although Bristol managed a couple of fluid late tries through Harry Randall and Malins, Wasps were already contemplating their title shot at Twickenham.
Wasps verve and renewed confidence under Blackett, which has seen them win 12 out of the 13 games since he took charge, will make them genuine contenders when they face Exeter in the final for a second time. So will a defence which is on a par with their attack.