Wasps 1st team entertained Stevenage at home on Saturday and both sides were surprised at how good the playing surface was. Apart from one small area with a few puddles the pitch was immaculate. Unfortunately for connoisseurs of running rugby the Weather Gods had decided that a full blown gale diagonally down the pitch was the order of the day.

Wasps began the game playing into the element and were immediately under pressure, discovering how strong the wind was, as they watched their first clearance kick blow back over their heads and leave them defending just yards from their own line. After a short sharp attack by Stevenage’s lively scrum-half, who was held up just short, Wasps relieved the pressure by using a few short drives and controlled mini-rucks, gaining some penalties and time to settle.

After five minutes from just inside their own ten metre line, Wasps scrum-half Ryan put up a box-kick beyond a ruck near to the touchline. The ball stalled in the wind and blew back towards the advancing Wasps players, debutant John made an excellent catch and beat one defender before handing on to Nick; he had fifty metres to go and the fullback to beat, this he did to score wide out, just beating the covering players. The conversion from a difficult position and against the diagonal wind was all but impossible and nobody was surprised to see it stall in the wind and fall well short, but Wasps were up and running against the elements with the first score of the match. Wasps 5 Stevenage 0.

Stevenage were immediately back inside Wasps territory, driving the ball at Wasps and trying to up the tempo, tapped penalties and round the corner runners were being used to make sound inroads into Wasps defensive setup, which appeared to have the situation under control. However, from a ruck in mid-field, the Stevenage Number eight drove straight through a sloppy Wasps defensive ruck and broke clear, he ran fifteen metres before passing to his supporting scrum-half who comfortable beat the Wasps defensive cover to score wide out. Although the kick was from what might have been the better side for kicking the gusting wind made a difficult kick even harder and the score only moved to Wasps 5 Stevenage 5. With only ten minutes played both sides had shown positive intent and both had scored well executed Try’s, portents for a competitive game had been laid down.

The Stevenage score had given Freddie a few moments to pass on his thoughts to his team behind the posts, it was clearly a day when their ears were fully functioning as they began to drive the ball short and play low percentage controlled ruby. Needless to say Freddie was to the fore but second-row Ryan must have had more carries than anyone else on the pitch during this phase of the game. US Alex was like a limpet over the ball and chased in, over or through every ruck, as well as play nearer to the ground than one would have thought humanly possible. Kieran did those grafting things, that good second-rows do in rucks and mauls, that often go unnoticed, but are massively appreciated by his team mates. This sold base allowed Luke and Douggie the opportunity to make short yardage gains around the side of slowly advancing rucks.

Another pleasing aspect of this phase of the game was the contribution of George who had been moved inform the centre to back-row, when Aussie Alex had left the pitch with a shoulder injury. George seemed to excel in the close quarter physical tackling and carrying game and was to the fore with ball in hand or tackling opponents.

In a nut shell Wasps controlled a full twenty minutes of the game and spent large parts of this time in Stevenage territory. Wasps looked after the ball well and made short gains, continually got the put-ins to the scrums and kept the ball on the pitch. They controlled the controllable’s very well. Stevenage equally defended in numbers and made sure that every step forward was earned the hard way.

This phase of the game was particularly well refereed, with adequate advantages played and players from both sides getting on with playing in the confidence that the man with the whistle was having a good game.
Wasps managed to create some potential opportunities down the short side but players stepping back into contact rather than fixing and passing nullified them, but at least they managed to keep possession and recycle. During this period of play Wasps remained almost exclusively in the Stevenage half.

Second-row Ryan was held up over the line, Sam had a bullocking run stopped inches short and Wasps, had at least five scummage put-ins within five metres of the Stevenage line. ‘Shrek’ making his season debut, ensured that Wasps won their ball and Freddie's pick-ups and scrum-half Ryan’s little blind side snipes kept Wasps at the end of the pitch they wanted to be. The backs also did their share of grafting with Sam, John, Ben and fullback Ryan all taking ball effectively into contact and recycling well. Stevenage, deserve full credit for the manner in which they defended their line during this part of the match.
Scrum-half Ryan had a wealth of ball at the breakdown and used it well with solid distribution and good choices of when to kick or go himself, thus keeping the Stevenage defensive line honest.

On the few occasions that Stevenage got their hands on the ball during this period of the game through turn-over’s, they probably made the mistake of trying to play too much rugby in their own half, and were almost immediately forced into an error of their own, or were themselves turned-over by US Alex at close quarters and Sam anywhere through the middle of the park.

Although Wasps had controlled this section of the game well, with sensible short yardage plays and good ball control, they had not managed to score. This was fully down to totally committed defence by Stevenage, who showed why and how they had won their last three League games.

Stevenage finally got hold of the ball without a Wasps player being able to apply pressure and in one clearing kick and a penalty found themselves close to the Wasps line with thirteen minutes of the half to go. It was now their turn to apply pressure and this they clearly did, seeking an opportunity to take a lead into the break. They had two or three five-metre scrummages and three attacking line-outs, all of which were driven or attempted to be driven at the Wasps line. They were held up over the line on two occasions and tested the Wasps defence to the maximum as they pounded away at their opponent’s line.

Something had to give and after several minutes of full on pressure from a five-metre scrummage the Stevenage number eight, who had been having and excellent game with and without the ball picked up and drove over. Once again the conversion had no real chance against such a strong cross wind but Stevenage had taken the lead . Wasps 5 Stevenage 10.

The final few minute of the half were played out in the Wasps half but far enough away from immediate danger for no further damage to be carried out. This had been in many ways an attritional half of rugby, in which Wasps had controlled where the game was being played for twenty minute by looking after the ball better and playing smart rugby that best suited playing, against what appeared to be favourable elements. With the score at Wasps 5 Stevenage 10 it was a question of whether Stevenage could ‘dog out’ the second half as effectively as Wasps had done in the first.

Wasps started the second half on the front foot, immediately carrying the ball well into the Stevenage half. Refusing to take a kick at goal Freedie tapped and charged into the opposition at full tilt, eight or ten ‘pick and goes’ later Douggie, was rewarded for all his hard work of the first half, by crashing over to score. John converted a fairly difficult kick, across the wind that had conveniently paused, its incessant blast, to allow the kick to be taken. Wasp 12 Stevenage 10.

Stevenage responded positively and possibly made the error of trying to play their way out against the win and were missing or dropping passes in the wind that meant they were invariably on the back foot. Wasps were still quite ravenous at the breakdown and Sam, having had to step in from thirteen was stopping everything in the twelve channel, tackling, turn-overs and loose ball pick-ups seemed to be following him around. Needless to say he was not found wanting.

The next score came when Stevenage tried to run a ball out of their half from a line-out, misfired pass bounced from one of their centres into Johns hands, he broke through the gap offered and passed on to Dami’s who cruised unopposed to the line. John again added the extras and Wasps were in a more comfortable lead. Wasps 19 Stevenage 10.

Stevenage returned powerfully against the wind to the Wasps end of the pitch and applied some pressure, but from the first turn-over Wasps kicked the ball back sixty metres to ask them to play from a long way out again. Wasps were still defending in a go forward attacking manner and were catching Stevenage behind the gain line, as the wind made passing the ball along the backs a difficult event.

It was from one such attempt to run the ball out that crunching tackle by Second-row Ryan, saw US Alex execute a quick turnover, the ball was passed to Sam, who decided to show off his new found kicking skills, in the windy conditions a potential lottery, however, he had obviously bought a winning ticket, as the ball bounced just slowly enough for Nick to outpace the defence and dive on it to score inches short of the dead ball line. This was the bonus point try and Nick’s second of the match from just four touches of the ball. John stepped up again and made a sound conversion from quite wide out with the wind on this occasion in his favour. Wasps 26 Stevenage 10.

With twelve minutes to go Stevenage again tried to run the ball out of their half against the wind by using their backs, a crashing man and ball tackle by Sam saw the ball bounce loose, it was passed immediately to Dami, he was through the first gap in a trice and the proceeded to prove too quick for more defenders before scoring near the posts, as a covering second-row forward finally laid a hand on him as he touched down. John again added the extras and Wasps had gained a commanding lead. Wasps 33 Stevenage 10.

The final six or seven minutes saw Stevenage on the attack, establishing a good platform inside the Wasps twenty-two. They went for the more pragmatic approach and kept the ball close, catching and driving and going around the corner, aiming to make small gains and keeping the ball better than at any stage of the game. They were held up over the line and then awarded a penalty at the next breakdown, a quick tapped penalty by their scrum-half saw him just mange to touch down on the line as he was engulfed by two Wasps defenders. The very difficult conversion was missed and the final whistle blew Stevenage had certainly deserved this closing score for their efforts and commitment throughout the game.

Final score was Wasps 33 Stevenage 15.

Wasps would have been pleased with their performance and common-sense approach to this game. The forwards had played as a unit and had won and controlled more than their share of ball in the first half that had led to them being in a very strong position at the break. The backs had been sharp in both attack and defence and came to the fore in the second half taking the chances that came their way.

A ‘man of the match’ award in any such team performance is always difficult, but as in the previous match, one man stood out above all others and the awarding panel were unanimous in their vote for Sam. He had shored up the middle of the park, with his no-nonsense tackling all day, made a number of turn-over’s, carried ball when ever asked to and had been significantly involved in three of the teams scores. Special credit should go to Shrek, soon eligible for a free bus pass, for stepping up from the 2s to help out the front row, and to John Sperling from the club's Under 18s for showing a very solid debut at fly half.