Wasps Win Local Derby

With local bragging rights at stake as well as a good number of personal rivalries from both school and county this match, though billed as a friendly, was always going to be an intensely competitive fixture.

It soon became apparent that Ruislip enjoyed a substantial power advantage in the scrum and height advantage in the lineout where Wasp's two tallest locks were missing. They used this set piece advantage to dominate the game for the first 25 minutes. Only resolute defence and the edge that Wasp's more mobile forwards had at the breakdown kept the score down to a single converted try to the home team.

Towards the end of the second half Wasps started to get more possession and territory and, but for the lack of clinical finishing that has plagued this season, could have scored on at least two occasions. The half finished with a scrum to Wasps on the Ruislip 5 metre line but a big defensive push turned over the ball.

With the second half ten minutes in a kick-through by Louis Clayton-Malloy was snaffled up by Osman Alamyar to bring the score back to 7-5. After this the pattern of the game started to change with Wasp's backs getting more of the ball and always looking dangerous with ball in hand. The lineouts were also become more competitive with Matteo Salvalaggio winning lots of ball or disrupting opposition possession.

Ruislip held up well despite growing pressure and with less than fifteen minutes to go they were still ahead. Their big pack was clearly tiring and Wasps now had a platform to unleash their backs more regularly. Good interplay involving Mark Makram and Joe Kelly opened things up for Joe Jones to score in the corner. Although Ruislip attempted gamely to regain the lead, Wasps were now dominant and ran in another try through Peter Henshall with the final play of the game.

It was a game of extraordinarily high quality with ultimately stamina probably being the difference between the two teams. Ruislip showed why they are runaway leaders of Division 2 and they will be competitive in the top league. Hopefully Wasps will still be there to play them. The Wasps performance was particularly gratifying as for the first time this season they secured a win in a tight fixture. It was a full squad performance with every boy playing his part so it would be wrong to name a man of the match but Joe Jones's effort was sufficient to lead to an overdue invitation to the County School of Rugby.