Wasps back on track in Europe

Celtic Warriors 12 Wasps 17

English champions Wasps put their Heineken Cup campaign back on course tonight with a hard-fought victory over Celtic Warriors at the Brewery Field in Bridgend.

Wasps, stung by a 14-9 home defeat against the same Pool Six opponents last Sunday, knew that another loss would leave their quarter-final hopes hanging by a thread.

But there was to be no repeat, as Lawrence Dallaglio’s team silenced a capacity 10,000 crowd and moved top of their group, building confidently towards remaining games against Italian minnows Calvisano and last season’s beaten Heineken Cup finalists Perpignan.

Dallaglio though, who is favourite to replace Martin Johnson as England captain following Johnson’s anticipated retirement from Test rugby tomorrow, blotted his copybook.

He was sin-binned midway through the second period for a late challenge on full-back Gareth Wyatt as Warriors attempted a counter-attack, and he could have few complaints about the decision.

Warriors substitute Neil Jenkins booted two of his three penalties while Dallaglio was off, but Wasps had done enough through full-back Mark van Gisbergen’s first-half try and fly-half Alex King’s accurate goalkicking.

King landed four penalties, cancelling out a Jenkins hat-trick and one Ceri Sweeney strike, yet the Warriors left their fightback too late after trailing 17-3.

The Warriors secured a bonus point in defeat, but that was of little comfort following a potentially costly home defeat.

Wasps boss Warren Gatland made several changes from the side that came unstuck five days ago, handing England World Cup centre Stuart Abbott his first start since Christmas, while prop Will Green and flanker Jonny O’Connor were recalled up-front, with wing John Rudd replacing an injured Tom Voyce.

The Warriors suffered a late injury blow when their Wales lock Brent Cockbain withdrew, so Nick Kelly replaced him and Gareth Cooper won coach Lynn Howells’ scrum-half vote above Sililo Martens.

Kick-off was delayed by almost 15 minutes due to crowd congestion, and Wasps found themselves under immediate pressure, but once Sweeney missed a second-minute penalty they settled quickly and went ahead 10 minutes later.

Rudd and hooker Trevor Leota ran strongly in midfield, and with the Warriors defence stretched, Wasps had sufficient attacking numbers out wide for Van Gisbergen to touch down.

King and Sweeney exchanged penalties midway through the half, but Wasps were guilty of wasting chances from their abundance of possession, and they should have been well clear by the interval.

There were occasional flash-points, notably when Kelly pinned Dallaglio to the floor and rained punches on Wasps’ captain.

Dallaglio was unhurt, but although French referee Joel Dume took no action against Kelly, Heineken Cup disciplinary chiefs might have other ideas.

Two further King penalties secured a 14-3 half-time lead, and there was concern for the Warriors after Sweeney took a heavy knock and appeared out of sorts as Dume ended the opening period.

Sweeney did not appear for the second-half, and Wales’ record international points scorer Jenkins took over from him.

Wasps though, seemingly had control of the match, and King’s fourth successful penalty after 47 minutes gave them further breathing space.

Jenkins slotted a 38-metre penalty four minutes later, but the Warriors still found themselves searching for a key to unlock Wasps’ well-organised defence.

Dallaglio remained a target among the home ranks, and the Warriors were temporarily reduced to 14 men when substitute prop Chris Horsman was sin-binned for foul play just seven minutes after replacing Christian Loader.

It was the last thing Warriors needed at such a crucial stage of proceedings, but Dallaglio’s ill-advised tackle on Wyatt levelled it up at 14 players each.

Jenkins punished Dallaglio’s indiscretion by booting the resulting penalty, and he narrowed the deficit to 17-12 with just 15 minutes remaining as Dallaglio continued his spell in the cooler.

Wasps rallied when Dallaglio returned, and although the closing minutes were inevitably tense, a priceless away win has restored them as Pool Six favourites.