Searle seals fightback as under-strength Wasps sink Worcester
Bereft through big-name absentees, Wasps needed fight, fortune and a late penalty from Billy Searle to overturn Worcester on the road.
Last season’s semi-finalists came back from 13-0 down to prevail in a frantic second half at Sixways that concluded with a missed dropped goal from Worcester fly-half Duncan Weir. But, with Brad Shields and Lima Sopoaga swelling their ranks this week, it felt like a significant victory.
Christian Wade had pillaged 10 tries in his three previous matches against Worcester but was unceremoniously bulldozed by GJ Van Velze early on.
Referee Karl Dickson whistled backpedalling Wasps and Weir stabbed through the uprights. With 10 minutes gone, Weir doubled the lead.
Dai Young’s side were striving to adapt to life without the nucleus that had directed their attack last season. At fly-half, 22-year-old Searle took the reins for life after Danny Cipriani – and before Sopoaga, who will be involved with Shields against Exeter Chiefs next weekend.
Initially, the visitors struggled to find fluency and, on 16 minutes, they infringed close to halfway. Josh Bassett dived backwards but his acrobatic attempt to keep Worcester’s touch-finder in play only yielded a knock-on.
From the resulting scrum, Ryan Mills surged through. Weir made it 13-0 after 16 minutes.
Wasps were indebted to the carrying of Nathan Hughes and although he missed one opportunity, Searle buoyed Wasps with a pair of penalties.
Worcester ended the first half 13-6 up. The second descended into chaos. Alafoti Faosiliva saw yellow for a high tackle on Miller and Ashley Johnson, a half-time replacement for Nizaam Carr, pierced the Warriors 22 with a trademark run. Hughes went close and Joe Launchbury burrowed over.
Worcester stole back in front with a scampering finish from the tireless Sam Lewis. But Tommy Taylor unleashed from Young’s bench, popped up on the shoulder of Dan Robson. Searle could not convert, so Wasps still trailed 20-18.
It was a scrum penalty that brought Searle’s telling points and a lead of 21-20, yet Worcester kept coming. Flyhalf Jono Lance, on for back-row replacement Cornell du Preez, kicked an overlap away. Minutes later, Wade and Elliot Daly recovered to lasso Francois Hougaard in a last-gasp tackle. The final moments befitted the bedlam. Hughes tried to kill the game by counting the clock and walking over the touchline. However, there was enough time for the line-out. Worcester set up a position in front of the posts on the 22. Weir dropped back. His strike sailed narrowly to the left. Although Worcester’s display was admirable, the afternoon also represented a spurned chance they could regret. The relief of Young reflected that. “We found a way to get our noses in front,” he explained. “Then we nearly threw it away at the end. But it wouldn’t be Wasps if we didn’t do that.”