Errors cost-lee as Joel shines
Lyon 20 Wasps 18
JOEL KPOKU, the English forward who left Saracens in November in search of more game time, powered Lyon pastwasps and into the Challenge Cup Final. Lyon overturned an 8-3 halftime deficit to edge past Lee Blackett’s error-strewn outfit with two tries in six minutes.
London-born Kpoku (below) was named man of the match and said: “It’s a great feeling, one we’ve been chasing for a long time.
“To beat a great Wasps side, who tested us for 80 minutes, and reach the final is surreal.”
Pundit Andy Goode, the former Wasps and England fly-half, said: “Joel’s come from Saracens stock, where probably one of the best second rows in the world is at the minute, Maro Itoje. So he’s learned from him. He’s a wonderful player and there were shades of Maro Itoje in that performance, weren’t there?”
Wasps were the architects of their own downfall.they silenced the crowd through Dan Robson’s early try and led with under half an hour left, but as Lyon turned up the heat their handling collapsed.
Kpoku added: “At half-time we knew what we had to do. It was about believing in ourselves and not letting indiscipline let them into the game.”
Within three minutes of the restart,wasps had the chance to extend their lead but allowed themselves to be turned over on the home try-line.
Lyon then swarmed upfield for fly-half Leo Berdeu to score and convert a fine try.
Althoughwasps quickly pulled back a penalty, Lyon were now in the mood.
And when Jacob Umaga was stripped of the ball after fielding a high kick, Kpoku drove through three tackles to set up replacement Yanis Charcosset for a try.
Trailing 20-11 with 10 minutes to play,wasps rallied and Dan
Frost went over only for the try to be chalked off for a Francois Hougaard knock-on.then Zach Kibirige was denied on the line.
Wasps’ persistence was rewarded when Jimmy Gopperth bagged their second try and added the extras five minutes from time.
It left them tantalisingly close to booking a final date in Marseille a week on Friday. But Gopperth’s first-half conversion miss proved costly and Lyon advanced.
Wasps boss Blackett said: “There’s a frustration because we controlled large parts of the game.
“The game came down to a couple of moments and we lost those moments, though the effort was outstanding.’’