Penalty Try

By Buzzed Off
May 2 2022

Wasps hopes of a play-off blow were all but extinguished as Irish came back from a 25 point deficit to earn a 42-42 draw with a last gasp penalty try. Credit to them as they earned their record breaking fifth draw of the season, while Wasps will be looking in depth at what went wrong.    

Joee Launchbury was the unfortunate offender as Wasps defended a maul on their line. The defenders had a hand on the ball at one point but couldn't clear

Joe clearly offended as Wasps defended the line. The irony was that the offence was in the corner and if Irish had scored  a touchdown the chances are the conversion might have been missed. Hey ho.

It finished off an entertaining contest with Wasps going ahead through Gabriel Oghre from a rolling maul. Irish went 14-7 up through Kyle Rowe and Tom Parton before Wasps regained the lead.

It came courtesy of a smart pass from  Dan Robson which allowed  Francois Hougaard to slide in for a try  followed by a try from  Charlie Atkinson.

Wasps were on a roll with Malakai Fekitoa sending in Hougaard to stroll in for his second with Josh Bassett doing the same for  Zach Kibirige.

It was 39-14 with 15 minutes left and Wasps supporters were in a relaxed mood. However, nobody told  Tom Pearson, Henry Arundell and Ollie-Hassell Collins who got Irish back in it

It still looked good for the visiitors when Jacob Umaga slotted a penalty in the last minute. Unforrtunately the restart ball was lost and Irish rolled their maul towards that fateful penalty try.

A disappointed Lee Blackett told the media: "It feels like walking away with a heavy loss and not collecting three valuable points in a tough fixture away from home.

"I'm gutted because I thought I would be describing some terrific efforts from some of our players as they put in a massive effort for the first 65 minutes. We had managed the game superbly and were in total control, but then we became sloppy and every bounce of the ball went their way.

" I thought we had a good chance of making the play-offs. Now it's extremely difficult but we will keep going."