Wasps 29 – 22 Bath Rugby
Wasps early second half slaughter was just enough to stop a
Bath fightback to claim a third Aviva Premiership win at Adams Park.
The hosts led 29 – 0 by 50 minutes thanks to a penalty try
and Sailosi Tagicakibau crossing the whitewash and their job was made easier
with Bath going down to 12 men with Lerony Houston, David Wilson and Micky
Young all sin binned.
Mike Ford’s side then put in an unbelievably impressive 22
unanswered points with tries from Jonathan Joseph, Young and David Sisi secured
the losing bonus point, but Dai Young’s soliders held firm to deny the visitors
a famous draw.
Despite losing Joe Launchbury before the match the Wasps
pack and whole defence would have made the young lock proud and showed other
teams in the Premiership there is a way to stop Bath.
The visitors thought they had taken the lead on four minutes
as fly – half George Ford delayed pass to Kyle Eastmond left a gap in the Wasps
defence to allow the centre to carve straight through the middle to score under
the posts.
However, after a chat with the TMO referee JP Doyle ruled no
try after Alafoti Fa’osiliva was ahead of the ball and obstructed Bradley
Davies’ attempted tackle on Ford and awarded Wasps a penalty.
The rest of the first half showed Andy Goode had his kicking
boots on scoring three penalties to give the home side a 9 – 0 lead on 35
minutes.
Just before both sides went into the break Bath had their attacking
position stopped as No.8 Houston was sent to the bin for a dangerous tip tackle
on Wasps scrum – half Joe Simpson and the hosts took advantage of the extra man
when Elliot Daly landed a monster 59 metre penalty straight through the posts
and Wasps had a 12 – 0 lead at half time.
Shortly into the second half the visitors’ fortunes worsened
as Wilson was sin binned for deliberately tipping Nathan Hughes and Goode
converted the penalty.
The nightmare continued for Bath as winger Christian Wade showed his
football skills as he was preparing to touchdown he was hauled down by Young,
who came on at the start of the second half, and referee Doyle had no choice
but to award a penalty try and show Bath their third yellow card in a space of
10 minutes.
Goode added the extras and it wasn’t too long for the fly –
half to add another two points with Ashley Johnson rampaging through the Bath defence
to set up Tagicakibau to finish under the posts and Wasps led 29 – 0 on 50
minutes.
Bath’s got their fightback from the resulting kick – off and
after a couple of phases centre Joseph was able to cut through the Wasps defence to
finally got Bath their first score but Ford missed the extras.
Replacement Young made amends after the hour mark to dart
over to score the visitors second try and with Ford adding the conversion
making it 29 – 12.
Bath scored their third try in 18 minutes as they pulled off
a well rehearsed set – piece move on the blindside of the scrum to give Sisi a
simple run – in and Ford added the extras.
Then then England fly – half Ford then scored a penalty to give Bath within a
converted try to secure a draw, but Wasps held their nerve for the final five
minutes and absorbed Bath’s pressure to run down the clock and remain unbeaten
at home.
Scorers
6 mins –
Goode (Pen) – 3 – 0
21 mins –
Goode (Pen) – 6 – 0
35 mins –
Goode (Pen) – 9 – 0
40 mins –
Daly (Pen) – 12 – 0
Half – Time
– Wasps 12 – 0 Bath Rugby
43 mins –
Goode (Pen) – 15 – 0
47 mins –
Penalty Try – 20 – 0
47 mins –
Goode (Con) – 22 – 0
49 mins –
Tagicakibau (Try) – 27 – 0
50 mins –
Goode (Con) – 29 – 0
51 mins –
Joseph (Try) – 29 – 5
63 mins –
Young (Try) – 29 – 10
63 mins –
Ford (Con) – 29 – 12
69 mins –
Sisi (Try) – 29 – 17
70 mins –
Ford (Con) – 29 – 19
75 mins –
Ford (Pen) – 29 – 22
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