Wasps started the new season in North West Three, with three virgin League players in the eighteen man squad, in fine style. It was a bright sunny but breezy day as Haringey Rhino’s kicked off into the breeze. Wasps were quickly into the game moving the ball with some degree of certainty and fully tested the visitors defence in the initial exchanges and scored a fine try wide out by Dylan within two minutes. Robbie missed a difficult conversion but Wasps were up and running as 5 - 0.

The next ten minutes saw an even contest in terms of possession with Wasps tending to use the ball in a more adventurous manner than their opponents and it was no surprise when Flynn out-paced the cover defence to score under the post, Robbie added the conversion for a deserved 12 – 0 lead. The next try came after twenty five minutes when after several rucks the ball was sent across the entire backline to give Dylan a sniff of an overlap, which he took with gusto and scored out wide taking the score to Wasps 17 Haringey 0.

The game once again went into an even structured contest with both sides playing well and it was during this spell of the game that the Wasps defence was seen at its best, withstanding several attacks, during which each and every player stood firm and made their tackles to a man, with one tackle from Cam deserving special mention. It was also noticeable during this period that the front row were amongst those making tackles and Thomasz along with Greenie were causing problems with their power and drive at tackle and ruck time. Thomas also carried the ball well. Needless to say that Coops seemed to be forever in the right place to carry and cross the gain line to keep Wasps going forward when in possession.

Tim passed comment after the game, that most of the ball he received was readily available and well presented, after contact. This factor alone allowed Wasps to keep some form of structure to their game as they were at times quite stretched.

Having survived this bout of pressure Wasps scored next when they opted to take a penalty from in front of the posts which Robbie converted for a twenty point lead. The final score of the half came from Flynn who was given the ball wide out near the halfway line, he took the outside route but had to fend off and beat three defenders, whilst avoiding being pushed into touch, his speed and strength prevailed and he run round to score under the posts. Robbie converted to bring the half time score to Wasps 27 Haringey 0.

This had been a very competitive first half and both sides deserved credit for their commitment and efforts, with possibly only Wasps ability to keep the ball for longer periods than Haringey that had led to such a good lead.

The second half started with Haringey in the ascendency with the breeze at their backs and it was a real test of Wasps defence and resolve once more for the first ten minutes. This was partly caused by some poor decision making, failure to find touch and a number of dropped passes. Was this casualness or a lack of focus? I don’t know, but I do know the defensive effort was superb, with each and every player putting their bodies on the line and it was certainly during this spell of the match that the back row came to the fore, with Tysen leading the way with tackles and Hugo along Griff tidying up the pieces and causing turn-overs and penalties in Wasps favour.

It was also very noticeable during their time without the ball how hard the second rows were playing and Byron and Rickie adding some well need bulk and athleticism at break downs and around the field.

After fifteen minutes of defending Wasps finally tidied their game up and went back to basics, starting to look after the ball and be patient. This led to a break out where a series of passes and excellent support allowing Jack and Flynn to inter-pass before Jack scored wide out. With the conversion narrowly missing Wasps had moved into a 32 – 0 lead.

Next came the try of the match, from well inside their own half Wasps turned a ball over, it was moved quickly to the left where an inside ball fed to Flynn who had appeared from the blind-side wing allowed him to run through the Haringey Centre’s untouched, beat the fullback and run in unopposed under the post to complete his Hatrick. Robbies kick was charged down but Wasps now had a total stranglehold lead of 37 points to 0.

The last fifteen minutes of the match saw three more Wasps tries all achieved in different fashions. Firstly Cam scored down the blind side of a ruck close to the line by leaving his call of redirection to the very last second, Robbie missed the conversion making the score Wasps 42 Haringey 0. Almost from the restart Jack was offered an outside channel by the opposition centres which he duly took and running a wide arc scored wide out a most pleasing individual try. The conversion again was close but wide. The final score of the game saw Dylan complete his hatrick after an all hands move by the backs that utilised Wolfie as the extra man allowed him to score in the corner, Robbie hit the post with the conversion from the touch line. This score made the final score-line read 56 – 0 in wasps favour.

With a few substitutions at half time and throughout the second half, everybody had a sound run-out. With Luke, Dougie and Carl all contributing to the team's efforts and performance.

The score was maybe a little flattering but overall Wasps had only taken scores that they had created, there had been no ‘gimmies’ from a very committed opposition. The match had been fairly refereed with both sides listen to and observing instructions well.

In a match where the backs scored all nine tries it was obvious that they were thankful for the work of the forwards and the ‘Pint of the Day’ prize went to Byron for his unrelenting hard work both with and without the ball, but there were a number of others who could easily have been nominated.

Although this was a good win there were aspects and areas that could have gone better.

· The line-outs were on occasions overthrown and on one occasion the lift was missed.

· It was also noticeable that a number of passes went to ground and several knock-ons gave the ball away.

Both Things that we can work on in training and look for improvements.