Bzzzzz

Shortly after kick off, a good line out take by Murphy set up a strong Irish driving maul which released Mapletoft, who put in a nice chip ahead over the approaching defence. Horak gathered at speed and set up a good position, which was sadly wasted by a kick straight to touch. From the resultant line out, wasps worked a good peel to put Voyce through a huge gap on Mapletoft’s inside shoulder. Desperate defence led to a wasps penalty which Van Guisbergen slotted comfortably for 3-0 after 3 minutes.

Irish responded and worked themselves into a good position to force a penalty in midfield which Mapletoft easily converted to level the scores after 6 minutes.
Some physical exchanges dominated the next period, although Wasps rarely seemed to be stretched by the Irish attacks, but good pressure by the Irish pack allowed Mapletoft time to slot a drop goal on the 12th minute.
A wasted free kick (just straight up into the air) allowed Wasps to clear, following more good work from the Irish forwards. Irish took the throw quickly and spun the ball wide. Poor control at the base of the ruck meant that the opportunity to cause some serious damage was lost. Irish disrupted the wasps scrum, forcing a poor kick from King, which Horak and Staniforth combined well to return. Wasps turned Irish over at the ruck, and a breakout threatened but a big hit from Van der Walt on Richards stopped the attack before it began. Irish were offside however, and Van Guisbergen put over his second penalty to level the game at 6-6 on 21 minutes.

Now a confession. From this point on, my pen gave up on me, so the rest is what I managed to scribble down when I reached the hotel bar afterwards. Maybe I should have got my stationary from Giles…..

Heavy defence dominated the next period of the game, with neither side looking like making a decisive breakthrough through well organised defensive lines.
Yet more good pressure on the wasps scrum forced a turnover. Irish strung a good few phases together and a nice mid filed move put Penney through a gap where Erinley should have been. Penney offloaded to Staniforth , who crashed over under the posts. Richards was adjudged to have prevented Staniforth from grounding the ball and wasps escaped.

Irish began another phase of attacks, although Hoadley easily read a long pass from Mapletoft, intercepted with ease and set off towards the line. Voyce carried it on but was denied by a fine cover tackle from Bishop. Bishop was judged to have not released the tackled player and set off for a 10 minute sit down, perhaps fortunate not to have conceded a penalty try as Wasps would have scored had they been able to recycle quickly.
Bishop had some company shortly afterwards when Greening joined him for kicking out at Hardwick, who was nowhere near the ball, as Wasps were going forward. Mapletoft kicked the resultant penalty for 9-6.
A further frantic cover tackle saved a certain try following a clean break by Voyce again, with the Irish defence seeming to suddenly look a bit fragile. Van Guisbergen landed 2 more penalties before half time for a 12-9 lead.

Whatever Warren Gatland said at half time clearly had an effect on Wasps as they burst into life shortly after the break.
A neat short pass from Shaw followed by some pretty weak tackling allowed Hoadley to score against his old club, converted by Van Guisbergen for 19-9, and suddenly the momentum of the game had swung towards wasps.
Mapletoft reduced the deficit with a penalty, but was taken off shortly afterwards, much to his obvious disgust when he reached the dug out.
Gustard was sin-binned on 55 minutes and Wasps raised their game further to try and exploit his absence. Voyce again showed his pace and power to score wasps 2nd try on 57 minutes, followed quickly by a score from the wasps replacement forward who romped in unopposed, both converted by Van Guisbergen, to end the game as a contest by the hour mark.
Paice and Strudwick replaced Van der Walt and Kennedy respectively and both put themselves around the field, and into opponents, as Irish tried to chase the game.
Irish looked to be clean away through Staniforth up the east touchline, but play was called back for an infringement at the ruck, much to the disgust of the east stand, but we (well, me anyway) in the posh seats could clearly see an Irish knock on was forced by clever interference from Richards at the base.
Staniforth was not to be denied however, but we had to wait until the 78th minute. He cruised in under the posts following a nice mid filed switch move. Everitt converted, but it really was too little too late for Irish, leaving the final score 33-19 to wasps.

Both sides tried to throw the ball around in the first half, making quite an entertaining game, with the ball in play for long spells. However, after half time wasps clearly stepped up a gear and Irish had little to offer in response against a strong, well organised defence.
The second half was well controlled by wasps, although plenty of errors were forced as they chased their 4th try. Wasps took the ball at speed and their pace and power seemed much greater than their opponents, typified by even Richards taking 2 or 3 defenders with him on occasion.

So, where does this leave Irish? I’d say close to being in trouble following the surprise wins for Saints and Quins on Saturday. However a lot of the first half suggested that we are, perhaps, a not-too-bad team, as we gave wasps some trouble and matched them up until half time. The second half was a different matter however. How often have we said that?

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