| Wasps: (15) 39 |
| Tries: Young 2, Bassett, Le Bourgeois, Odogwu Cons: Umaga 4 Pens: Umaga 2 |
| Bath: (5) 29 |
| Tries: Reid, McNally, Obano, Spencer Cons: Bailey 3 Pens: Bailey |
Thomas Young scored two tries on his 100th Wasps appearance to help his side beat 14-man Bath 39-29 in a thriller.
Young’s early try was cancelled out by Miles Reid after half an hour before Josh Bassett raced in for Wasps.
Michael Le Bourgeois got Wasps’ third try before Bath’s Josh McNally and Beno Obano both forced their way over.
Ben Spencer put Bath ahead with 10 minutes left, but Obano was sent off three minutes later and Youngs was mauled over from the resulting penalty.
Paolo Odogwu’s score in the final minute added gloss to a win which had seemed unlikely just 10 minutes earlier after Bath had overhauled a 12-point second-half deficit and looked set for a memorable comeback win.
Wasps remain ninth after the bonus-point win, while Bath are a point behind sixth-placed London Irish after collecting a losing bonus point.
The first half was marred by a serious-looking knee injury to Wasps captain Joe Launchbury. The 30-year-old England lock had to be helped from the field after twisting his left knee as he tried to tackle international team-mate Jonathan Joseph shortly after Bath’s opening try.
It came after Wasps had earlier lost Will Rowlands to injury, with the Wales lock departing shortly before the end of the opening quarter.
Wasps started and ended the first half well as Young went over from close range following a number of phases after a line-out, before Reid replied from a rolling maul for the visitors.
The hosts recovered from losing Launchbury as the excellent Jacob Umaga kicked a penalty before the young fly-half set up Bassett’s try.
The England Under-20 player showed some superb footwork on his own 22 as he beat a couple of defenders before giving a perfectly timed pass on the halfway line to Bassett for the winger to race in down the left flank.
Orlando Bailey landed a Bath penalty early in the second half before Umaga was again the star for Wasps’ third try – he started an excellent flowing move with a lovely dummy and, after a couple of phases, he was on hand to release Le Bourgeois out of the back of his hand.
Bath responded almost instantly when McNally went over after a pick-and-go on the Wasps line following a nice break by Sam Underhill and, after an Umaga penalty, Bath again went over from close range as England prop Obano benefitted after a number of phases.
Spencer capped a fine flurry of passes to break through and score as Bath thought they had done enough to win it, but they could have no complaints about the red card.
Obano clashed heads with Ben Morris as he went to tackle the Wasps flanker, leaving his opponent with a bloody nose and the Bath man with a red card for a high hit.
Wasps kicked for a line-out from the resulting penalty, which saw Youngs mauled over, and with an extra man Odogwu finished on the right wing.
Wasps director of rugby Lee Blackett:
“When they came back into in the second half, we became nervy and edgy as we lacked confidence, but we showed a different mindset than recently to win it, especially when we went behind with 10 minutes to go.
“Last week we competed really well with Exeter for 50 minutes and I was really disappointed how we fell away after that.
“We played well in the first half but basic handling errors cost us as we should have been more than 10 points up at the interval.”
Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper:
“We didn’t deliver today as we weren’t accurate, especially in the first half, and you can’t come away and expect to win on that basis.
“We got ourselves back into the game with a strong period in the second half by upping the tempo and there was a time when I thought we could sneak it but then came Beno’s red card, about which we can have no complaints.
“It is a missed chance to move up the Premiership table but as far as I’m aware a top-eight place will secure a Heineken Champions Cup spot for next season and we still have to play a number of sides above us so we can improve our position.”
Wasps: Miller; Odogwu, Fekitoa, Le Bourgeois, Bassett; Umaga, Robson; West, Taylor, Brookes, Launchbury (capt), Rowlands, Morris, Young, Shields.
Replacements: Oghre, Harris, Toomaga-Allen, Douglas, Willis, Porter, Atkinson, Kibirige.
Bath: Watson; Cokanasiga, Joseph, Redpath, Muir; Bailey, Chudley; Schoeman, Dunn, Thomas, McNally, Ewels (capt), Reid, Underhill, Mercer.
Replacements: Du Toit, Obano, Judge, Stooke, Bayliss, Spencer, Clark, Gray.
Referee: Ian Tempest (RFU).
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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