A late defensive stand gave London Wasps their fourth win from five games this season despite a late Northampton fight back. In a game which promised much, but delivered little, only one try was scored, despite the wealth of attacking talent on both sides.
Wasps picked Danny Cipriani at fullback, bringing Dave Walder in at fly-half, and both players looked good. Walder’s boot provided the first 12 points of the game, whilst Cipriani frequently came into the line at first receiver and showed promising attacking intent. However, Wasps failed to turn their possession into tries, with the final pass letting them down at key moments. On the Northampton side, Shane Geraghty showed little of the potency that has brought him into England contention, and the visitors kicked too much ball away.
The only try of the game came when Wasps’ scrum-half, Joe Simpson, put a speculative chip in front of Chris Ashton, who could only watch as the ball bounced unkindly into Cipriani’s arms to score in the corner.
Wasps led 17-3 at half-time, and the game seemed to be nicely set for an action packed second half. Instead it turned into a tense affair. Wasps faded, their only meaningful attack in the half yielding a Walder drop-goal. Northampton were playing with more purpose, but organised Wasps defence limited the scoring to penalties from Geraghty, who had mixed fortunes with the boot. Late in the game, the cool-headed Bruce Reihana scored a well-struck long range penalty, to bring his side within five points, and set the stage for a tight finish. There was then pause for concern, as Cipriani’s replacement, Lachlan Mitchell, made a try-saving tackle on Chris Ashton, but in doing so suffered a serious head injury and was stretchered off after lying prone on the pitch for ten minutes. Thankfully post-match reports suggest that he will recover.
Subsequent phases of frenetic attack were rebuffed by the enthusiastic Wasps defence, and the visitors will be disappointed that a back line that has played with such invention in recent weeks seemed devoid of ideas, reverting repeatedly crashing the ball up, and time eventually ran out.
Both sides will be disappointed with their performance in this match, neither showed much attacking potency, and it was indicative of the way Wasps played that free-scoring Tom Varndell hardly touched the ball. Shaun Edwards will be pleased with the way his side defended, and at the win, but there is much to improve on. For Northampton, had Geraghty not missed a couple of kicks, it might have been a different story, but ultimately they have found that they are not the finished article yet.
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