Hughes limps off as Wasps fluff their lines again
DAI Young admitted it was “painful to watch’ as his side’s European chances slipped down the Ricoh Arena drain with a despairing loss to Toulouse.
The director of rugby admitted it would take a minor miracle for them to progress after a second defeat in three games, leaving them with just three points and at the bottom of Pool 1.
Worse news for Wasps was a first half injury to Nathan Hughes who limped out of the action after just 20 minutes with a hip injury and could face a spell on the sidelines having just returned from a long suspension last month.
Wasps must now try and win their final three games with bonus points, starting with the return clash in Toulouse next weekend, and hope for the best.
But the two-time winners are not the force they were thanks to a mixture of terrible injuries and poor form.
Young said: “This defeat hurts. I don’t like losing and of course it’s painful knowing we had to win this game and have not.
“It was a knockout contest and we are now in a bad position. It’s a real shame because this club enjoys doing well in Europe and have a proud history in this competition. Now, we just have to regroup and try our best in Toulouse and then try and keep things going.
“We had our chances out there but did not capitalise on the times they were down to 14 men enough. We scored one try when they lost the first man but it was desperate at the end and they defended well.”
Fly-half Lima Sopoaga edged the home side ahead with an early penalty and the noise in the stadium turned up a notch.
Wasps lost Hughes, who had been in the thick of the early action, to his injury when thrown to the ground by Toulouse giant Joe Tekori.
Moments later the visitors in red were celebrating a stunning solo try by the lightning quick Cheslin Kolbe.
Wasps fans would have been far from impressed by the two attempted tacklers who merely bounced off the flying wing as he applied the accelerator. But Kolbe showed remarkable strength and desire to leave his rivals trailing in his wake and dive over the line.
Elliot Daly kicked a longrange penalty but full-back Thomas Ramos kicked two penalties to edge his side further ahead and leave Wasps needing a desperate fightback.
The French side lost prop Maks van Dyk to the sin bin for a high tackle on Kieran Brookes and then lock Will Rowlands forced his way over and grounded the ball with his momentum.
Sopoaga kicked the extras but the half-time lead did not last long as Ramos made the hosts pay for indiscipline with two further kicks with centre Sofiane Guitoune grabbing a second try in between.
A second long-range kick from Daly threatened a Wasps comeback but Ramos had the last say and even though Toulouse lost replacement Louis Madaule to the sin bin for treading on Brad Shields, the visitors held on.