Crazy week concludes with craziest of draws at Ricoh Arena
‘You don’t know whether to be angry that we didn’t win or relieved they missed a kick’
This was a suitably bonkers ending to what has been a thoroughly bonkers week for both clubs.
Five converted tries apiece, a 35-35 draw that does little for either team’s qualification hopes and an England coach roundly booed by elements of the Ricoh Arena crowd, for reasons unknown.
As Dai Young, Wasps’ director of rugby, remarked afterwards: “There is never a dull day at Wasps.”
After Wasps’ drubbing at the hands of Leinster in Dublin last weekend, and Bath’s bizarre defeat by Toulouse thanks to Freddie Burns’ premature celebration, it hardly needed any extra spice. The intervening week had only added further layers of intrigue.
Christian Wade’s apparent decision to swap life in Coventry for the US and a shot at the NFL had been met by silence by Wasps, a policy Bath owner Bruce Craig pointedly eschewed when he made it known late on Friday that he was demanding a rematch with Toulouse over the officiating in that match.
Young said he expected clarification on the Wade situation “in the next couple of days”, while his counterpart Todd Blackadder said he had “no idea” what would happen with European Professional Club Rugby regarding Bath’s bizarre appeal.
This game was breathless from the word go. Bath wing Joe Cokanasiga, celebrating his recent England call-up, scored just three minutes into his Champions Cup debut.
Bath worked the ball out wide, Cokanasiga cut in from the left, exchanged passes with Will Chudley and then muscled his way over the line despite a last-ditch tackle from Josh Bassett.
Thomas Young, without whom Wasps would probably have been 50 points down at half-time last weekend, was doing his best to stem the tide.
Against the run of play, however, the hosts drew level in 18 minutes.
From a scrum, Joe Simpson darted down the blindside, drawing Cokanasiga off his wing and giving Josh Bassett the chance to score in the corner.
Cokanasiga’s defensive positioning would have provided food for thought for the watching Eddie Jones, although he may have been distracted by the fact he was being booed by the crowd whenever his face appeared on the big screen. It was unclear why. Perhaps the Australian is being held responsible for Wade’s decision to cross the pond? Maybe there are still some disgruntled Danny Cipriani fans in these parts?
“I would be very disappointed if that was the case,” Young commented, correctly pointing out that the crowd had later cheered the Australian and noting the pantomime feel to it all.
“I thought it was more in jest than anything. Whatever happens, we have all got a job to do as coaches. ”
Whatever it was, Bath were soon ahead again, Max Wright getting his just rewards after a neat line-break on the edge of Wasps’ 22, exchanging passes with Jack Walker and streaking home from 10 metres out. And as they began to chase the game, Wasps began to get increasingly loose.
It wasn’t long before Bath had a third try, Willie Le Roux’s pass to Young on the left wing picked off by Semesa Rokoduguni who sprinted home from 6o metres out.
Wasps were at sixes and sevens, with Brad Shields in particular not doing much in the first half to suggest he should be England’s starting No 6.
A knock-on five metres out from the Bath try line was one particularly egregious error. Zach Mercer, on the other hand, was showing what he could do ball in hand, a pick-and-go from the base of a 5m scrum showing his confidence in front of Jones.
Trailing 21-7 at the break, Dai Young was looking pretty fed up.
He must have read his Wasps team the riot act, because it took them just 10
minutes following the restart to score three tries and reclaim the lead.
Joe Simpson, Zurabi Zhavnia and Ashley Johnson were the scorers, but they were all fine team efforts, the products of the fast multi-phase rugby Wasps have become known for in recent seasons. And Shields was to the fore in most of those moves.
Back came Bath again, Charlie Ewels taking a flat pass from Jack Walker to score a try which Burns converted to draw things level at 28-28.
And the visitors then went ahead again with their fifth try of the game, Louw diving over from close range.
A thrilling finish saw Thomas Young go over for the try which his all-action performance deserved before Bath’s replacement fly half Alex Davies, a 32 year-old signed from Yorkshire Carnegie in the off-season and on for his competitive debut, missed a late pen- alty from out on the right touchline. “It’s mixed emotions,” Dai Young reflected. “You don’t know whether to be really angry we didn’t win at the end, or really relieved that they missed a kick.
“One thing is for sure, though – we have given ourselves a massive uphill battle to qualify now.”
Scores 0-5 Cokanasiga try; 0-7 Burns con; 5-7 Bassett try; 7-7 Sopoaga con; 7-12 Wright try; 7-14 Burns con; 7-19 Rokoduguni try; 7-21 Burns con; 12-21 Simpson try; 14-21 Sopoaga con; 19-21 Zhavnia try; 21-21 Sopoaga; 26-21 Johnson try; 28-21 Sopoaga con; 28-26 Ewels try; 28-28 Burns con; 28-33 Louw try; 28-35 Burns con; 33-35 Young try; 35-35 Sopoaga con. Wasps W Le Roux; J Bassett, J de Jongh, M Le Bourgeois (R Miller 70), E Daly (capt); L Sopoaga, J Simpson (C Hampson 72); Z Zhvania (B Harris 60), T Taylor (T Cruse 12, A Johnson 49), K Brookes (W Stuart 60), W Rowlands, J Gaskell (K Myall 72), B Shields, T Young, N Carr. Bath D Atkins; S Rokoduguni, J Willison (T Homer 25), M Wright, J Cokanasiga; F Burns (A Davies 72), W Chudley (M Green 75); N Catt (J Van Rooyen 58), J Walker (R Batty 60), H Thomas (A Perenise 52), D Attwood (M Garvey 58), C Ewels (capt), T Ellis (S Underhill 60), F Louw, Z Mercer. Referee J Garces (France).