Yellow fever makes Wasps look sickly
Saints immediately made them pay by scoring the first try. After a strong touchline run from Ollie Sleightholme put the Wasps’ defence on the back foot, Shaun Adendorff was up in support to force his way over for his third try in two games.
Worse was to follow for the home side when they lost two forwards in quick succession to the sin-bin. First tighthead Brookes carelessly charged into a ruck to make contact with Sam Matavesi and then second row Gaskell followed for an off-the-ball challenge.
Reduced to 13 players,
Wasps had no hope of stopping a formidable 25m lineout drive from Saints, which resulted in Matavesi crashing over.
Saints soon scored their third when Taqele Naiyaravoro went in from close range with another conversion from Grayson giving his side a 22-0 interval lead.
Within three minutes of the restart, Wasps produced their first flowing movement and it paid dividends as Rob Miller crossed for an excellent try.
The hosts received further encouragement when Naiyaravoro was yellow carded for a high tackle but they suffered an injury setback when replacement prop, Simon McIntyre, was led off with a leg injury only a minute after coming onto the field.
Naiyaravoro returned from the sin-bin with no damage done to the scoreboard but Wasps came back into contention with a penalty from the recently introduced Jacob Umaga.
Piers Francis was then yellow carded for a deliberate offside and Wasps took immediate advantage with a try from Tommy Taylor.
But the hosts could get no nearer and had to be content with a losing bonus point.
Neither set the world alight. Atkinson, 19, surprisingly preferred to Jacob Umaga, made a bad start by slicing his first clearance into touch and made a more crucial error in the second half by missing a penalty touch when Wasps were in full flow. Grayson began well by combining with Rory Hutchinson to get Saints moving forward but his influence faded together with his team.
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