Richard Cockerill is prone to the emotion of bulging cheeks, popping eyes and table-thumping fists but, at the end of a match his side needed to win to remain on course for yet another top-four finish, Leicester’s director of rugby put his head in his hands and looked close to tears. In what turned out to be a poor week for predictions, some of the club’s former players had questioned whether the Tigers were good enough for the play-offs, but even though they played the last 44 minutes with 14 men against opponents who also had the play-offs in sight, they were the comfortably superior side.
When the centre Seremaia Bai was sent off in the 37th minute for diving into a ruck and clashing heads with the home No8 Nathan Hughes, who was pinned into the breakdown and could not avoid the collision, Wasps were filled with hope, but such was their attacking predictability that they needed a few more to follow Bai’s example.
It was an early play-off match. Wasps knew defeat would end their aim of finishing in the top four while it would leave Leicester relying on others to stretch their run of making the knock-out stage to 11 years. It was a Midlands derby played before a full house, and if it provided a reminder of the rivalry between the clubs in the first part of this century, Wasps had lost the knack of winning big matches.
Leicester deployed a second row, Geoff Parling, at blind-side flanker. It suggested an uncompromising, direct approach, drills rather than frills, and the Tigers had shown an aversion to scoring tries for most of the season, but there was deception in the selection: before they put a move together, Wasps were 10 points down.
Wasps were prepared for an aerial invasion but Freddie Burns, after kicking an early penalty when Lorenzo Cittadini blocked Ben Youngs’s pass from an offside position, ran out of his own 22 to start a move that took play into the opposition half. They looked to keep the ball in hand, and when Tom Young worked a clever lineout move with Graham Kitchener on halfway, the hooker kept the ball alive just before he was pushed into touch and after Mathew Tait found space behind the defence, Vereniki Goneva drew the cover to free Niall Morris in the eighth minute.
Leicester had not been impressed with the decision of Wasps at the end of last year to move to Coventry, but they had not won at Adams Park in the Premiership since 2007. Wasps were stung into a reaction after their slow start and enjoyed a period of possession, but the visitors’ drift defence prevented holes from appearing and dealt comfortably with the consequent attacking width.
Elliot Daly looked for the outside break, but he was shackled by Bai, who forced one notable turnover and was a key figure for the Tigers until his recklessness jeopardised his side’s superiority. Leicester were 18-9 ahead when the centre saw red, Goneva scoring their second try after the Tigers had again kept the ball in hand, and Wasps only looked like scoring when Andy Goode was lining up a kick at goal. His four first-half penalties kept Wasps in contention, but even with a man advantage Wasps struggled to create space. They used the No8 Nathan Hughes to storm the gainline, but carrying the ball one-handed to give himself the option of an offload, he often lost the ball in contact and throughout the afternoon was put under pressure as he picked up from a scrum.
It was hard to tell at times that Leicester had 14 men. The Parling experiment lasted barely a quarter of the match: he spent eight minutes off the field for a head injury assessment having missed 10 weeks of the season because of concussion. He returned from a scrum after which he stood up, beckoned to the sideline and was replaced by Jamie Gibson.
Parling’s England second row colleague Joe Launchbury came on in the second half for his first appearance since neck surgery in October, and he was followed on to the field by the Leicester lock Ed Slater, who had not played all season. The quality of Leicester’s forward replacements enabled them to remain in control and they suffered remarkably few scares in the final 30 minutes, Wasps lacking the wit to break down an obdurate defence.
Burns’s third penalty stretched Leicester’s lead before two from Goode brought Wasps, who lost their scrum-half Joe Simpson to a knee injury he suffered after a late tackle by Goneva, within three points. Leicester’s response was to go on another rumble which went through 10 phases before Christian Loamanu was centimetres short as he stretched out for the line but Adam Thompstone scuttled over in the corner before Wasps salvaged a bonus point they may need to qualify for the Champions Cup with an Alex Lozowski penalty.
“We did not have any form for a long time this season, but today was what we are all about,” said the Leicester captain, Ben Youngs. “This was a quarter-final for us and we can look forward to the semi-final. Seremaia saw a bit of red mist, but we stuck to our game plan.”
