WASPS A 19 - LONDON WELSH A - 7

After a rather protracted Christmas lay off Wasps could have been forgiven for having a slow start to this first league game of 2014 and despite a rather crisp but sunny winters day at Old Deer Park this duly ensued. Wasps kicked off, London Welsh attacked and Wasps were penalised for not moving away. A succession of strong Welsh drives, particularly through the middle of the Wasps pack put the away team under pressure but this was all absorbed and Wasps soon followed up with some very strong runs themselves through Yamato Bando and Mark Hughes. One such run by Mark and an offload to Charlie Averre led to a line out just 10 metres from the Welsh line.
Having taken what Welsh could through at them the Wasps team started to find their rhythm. A succession of good pick and drives from the forwards soon put Wasps into the Welsh 22 but Wasps were unable to capitalise and Welsh broke out the length of the pitch only to be denied a score by a try saving tackle by Yamato.

A good clearance from the line out and Wasps were out of trouble, but not for long as Welsh attacked down the left and after evading the tackling managed to score a try under the posts. 17 minutes had gone and after the successful conversion this led to a 7 - 0 scoreline. Wasps dogged response was impressive, they attacked, ran hard up the middle (Jamie Dunbar in particular making some great runs) and London Walsh conceded a penalty in front of the posts. Despite the coaches protestations the boys decided to run rather than kick and a further penalty for not being 10 meters enable Mark Hughes to force his way over for a 7 - 5 scoreline. Fergus McWilliams converted to even up the scores after 22 minutes.
From the restart Wasps attacked again up the middle, sensing a Welsh weakness, and a strong Wasps scrum in the opposition 22 helped Yamoto to pick up from the base and drive his way over in the left hand corner. An excellent touchline conversion from Fergus helped Wasps to a 7 - 14 advantage at half time.

By now the wind had picked up a little and Wasps found themselves playing with the wind at their backs and with the advantage of the slope. From the London Welsh kick off Theo Such collected and was bundled into touch. Welsh cleared from the line out but Fergus kicked intelligently into the right hand corner to keep them pegged in their own 22. The line out was won by Welsh and Liam Munro charged down the attempted clearance kick. Following some strong mauling and running Nikita Kuenzli (who had come on for Sam Beverly at half time) was unlucky to be held up over the line. London Welsh cleared to touch and Wasps won the following line out. Alex Sharpe - Neal ran strongly up the left and Mark Hughes picked up from the ruck and ran right around the despairing Welsh tacklers across the face of the posts to score in the right hand corner. Fergus missed the conversion but 5 minutes into the second half Wasps led 19 - 7.

Gus Baker and James Horner came on for Charlie Averre and Conor Baxter who had both played very well but the teams shape remained. Wasps started to exert a great deal of pressure running at the Welsh in defence, tackling with gusto and pushing them back. Despite a period of sustained effort they were unlucky not to score when Gus was denied a try following up as the ball went over the Welsh line. The home team were certainly not finished and they came back at Wasps, driving through their forwards into the Wasps 22. Wasps commitment to the defensive cause led to a yellow card for Nikita who was rather harshly adjudged to have been not moving away, however after a number of Wasps infringements at the breakdown this was not a surprise. London Welsh ran the ensuing penalty but despite being a man down Wasps line was not to be breached again and a kick to touch from Fergus ended the game with a Wasps win 19 to 7.

After a few weeks out this was a terrific performance and the team should be proud - the coaches and parents certainly were.

Man of the Match : Mark Hughes - a colossus at the line out, outstanding in the rucks, tackled like a demon and was gazelle like in the outfield, a fabulous game.