LONDON WASPS 10 - 43 BATH RUGBY 
Twickenham - Saturday 23rd April 2011
HT: 6-10 Attendance: 38,074
DESPITE the result, London Wasps put on a magnificent afternoon spectacle at the home of England Rugby on St George’s Day over the Easter weekend. The 38,000-strong crowd rose to the occasion in the glorious sunshine, welcomed the troops from our Armed Forces, and rousing renditions of “Land of Hope & Glory”, “I Vow To Thee My Country” and “Jerusalem” resonated around the stadium alongside the national anthem in all their glory.
Following all the pomp and splendour, Bath began their six-try routing of the London Wasps within three minutes as Tom Biggs almost casually sauntered over the try line and Sam Vesty converted to take an early lead. Things almost worsened quickly after with Bath bundling over in the corner for a second try, but referee Wayne Barnes could not see if the ball was grounded, deferred to the TMO, Graham Hughes who was rightly none the wiser, and a huge cheer went up as “No Try” popped up on the big screens.
It was not all doom and gloom for the Wasps at the start as they defended well, and worked their way towards the Bath 22, but as happened time and again, Bath managed to turnover the ball at twice the rate that Wasps could manage.
As the grey clouds began to move over HQ, the feeling of doom set in, but the Wasps fans were not going to give up; Matt Carraro’s try was disallowed and Bath had to settle for 3 points from Vesty’s boot rather than 7.
Early in the second quarter, Bath turned over the ball in their own territory and the formidable Matt Banahan passed out to Tom Biggs for his second try of the afternoon. Vesty’s conversion took the visitors up to a 17-0 lead before Dave Walder kicked over a penalty to black & gold pints on the board.
With just five minutes left of the first half, Tom Varndell prevented Bath from scoring, but the reprieve was only momentary as Matt Banahan followed up with a poetic waltz around defenders and behind the posts for a third converted try. And seconds later, every feeble attempt at stopping Tommy Biggs from scoring a hat trick was brushed aside as he flew over for another score; Vesty missed the conversion but Bath went into the break 29-3 up.
Half time was an excuse for the audience to be distracted by British soul singer [and Wasps Head Coach, Shaun Edwards’ ex] Heather Small belting out a couple of recognisable numbers, and simultaneously breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest backing dancing troupe of over 700.
But back to the game, and though the skies were still grey and the thunder and lightning were quite clearly seen and heard, the rain held off; Wasps quickly reached Bath’s try line with a driving maul but the ball popped out before being grounded which was confirmed by the TMO.
Heading towards the final quarter, Sam Vesty missed a penalty amid appalling jeering from Wasps fans, but he redeemed himself moments later clearing the ball, chipping it in front for Matt Banahan to pick up and skid over the line for his second try. Another conversion and Bath were leading by 36 points to 3.
With England captain Lewis Moody replaced by Guy Mercer after 50 minutes, a host of replacements came off the bench for the homeside, and the fresh legs paid off quickly; Joe Simpson got his hands on the ball, made a frenetic break, scored under the posts and converted his own try.
And it was Simpson who managed to ground the ball behind the Wasps try line before Jacques Boussuge could get his hands on it to score for bath again.
Into the final ten minutes, and twice Wasps got within 5 metres of the Bath whitewash, but the visitors’ defence held strong, and turnover ball, a forward pass and a free kick prevented Wasps from capitalising on their position.
Bath directed play back into Wasps territory, and in the 74th minute, Matt Carraro was finally awarded his try; Vesty converted before he was replaced by Paul Roberts following a cracking game.
Hat trick scorer Tom Biggs was names the Aviva Premiership Man of the Match, Roberts missed the final penalty, and Bath had the bonus they needed to keep up their hopes of Heineken Cup qualification next season, helped by the fact that they do have a game in hand, and face Newcastle Falcons both home and away over the next two weekends.
Wasps saw their hopes of securing a place in the premier European competition slip away, and have a mountain to climb to get the former English Premiership and Heineken Cup winners back on track next season. But no doubt, once a new Director of Rugby is appointed, some structure can return and the team will be able to rebuild from the inside out.
15 Elliot Daly 14 Richard Haughton 13 Ben Jacobs 12 Riki Flutey 11 Tom Varndell 10 Dave Walder 9 Joe Simpson 1 Zak Taulafo 2 Tom Lindsay 3 Ben Broster 4 Simon Shaw 5 Joe Launchbury 6 John Hart (C) 7 Dan Ward-Smith 8 Billy Vunipola BENCH: 16 Joe Ward 17 Charlie Beech 18 Bob Baker 19 Richard Birkett 20 Serge Betsen Tchoua 21 Nic Berry 22 Mark van Gisbergen 23 Josh Lewsey
SCORERS T: Simpson C: Simpson P: Walder
15 Nick Abendanon 14 Jacques Boussuge 13 Matt Carraro 12 Matt Banahan 11 Tom Biggs 10 Sam Vesty 9 Michael Claassens (C) 1 David Flatman 2 Lee Mears 3 David Wilson 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe 5 Danny Grewcock 6 Ben Skirving 7 Lewis Moody 8 Simon Taylor BENCH: 16 Pieter Dixon 17 Nathan Catt 18 Duncan Bell 19 Guy Mercer 20 Josh Ovens 21 Mark McMillan 22 Paul Roberts 23 Nick Scott
SCORERS T: Biggs (3), Banahan (2), Carraro C: Vesty (5) P: Vesty
Man of the Match: Tom Biggs
Referee: Wayne Barnes Asst Referees: Roy Maybank, Stuart Terheege TMO: Graham Hughes
CHARITIES SUPPORTED BY ST GEORGE'S DAY GAME
