Wasps lads given harsh lesson by smoking Joe

LONDON Irish boss Nick Kennedy is looking for his side to continue building momentum for the business end of the campaign.

A resounding bonuspoint victory over an understrength Wasps outfit made it three wins on the bounce for the Exiles, who now prepare for Friday’s trip to Cardiff Blues.

Kennedy said: “Wasps were understrength but I thought we played very well. Our defence was impressive and we took our tries well.”

Irish ran in ten tries including a hat-trick from Joe Cokanasiga, the explosive wing taking his tries with aplomb in a game which marked Blair Cowan’s 100th appearance for the club.

Kennedy’s men got their try-scoring spree up and running as early as the second minute, new recruit Arno Botha’s neat pass to Alex Lewington on the blindside providing the speedy wing with a clear run in.

Scott Steele sniped his way to the line on 22 minutes to bag Irish’s second try before Wasps pulled a try back through Nick Foster. The full-back rounded off a sweeping move involving centres Sam Spink and Brendan Macken to get the visitors on the scoreboard.

Cokanasiga registered the first of his three tries immediately from the restart, before Ollie Hoskins crossed for the bonus on 34 minutes.

James Marshall grabbed the fifth on the stroke of half-time, taking a pass from Franco van der Merwe to touch down in the corner.

The opening exchanges of the second period lacked the fluidity of the first, but Irish were back in the scoring groove on 56 minutes when hooker Saia Fainga’a crashed over from a driving lineout.

Springbok Pete van Zyl wasted no time in introducing himself to the Exiles faithful by celebrating a try under the posts. Irish continued to grow in confidence and on 73 minutes Cokanasiga bagged his brace for the day.

Aseli Tikoirotuma’s explosive run yielded try number nine, with Cokanasiga grabbing his hat-trick on the final play.

“We are disappointed with the result, but from a performance point of view there’s a lot we can take from the game,” said Wasps academy manager Jonathan Pendlebury.

“A number of our guys are U18 so there’s a lot they can take from this.”