At no stage in Premiership history have Wasps made a faster start to a league season and winning is becoming a habit even when they are below their absolute buzzing best. Had they enjoyed more territory and possession on a gorgeous afternoon, the scoreline would have been seriously grisly but their former London rivals still retreated back to the capital having leaked a total of seven tries and almost 50 points.
If the trip on Sunday to the champions, Saracens, second in the table, promises to be slightly more testing it was only a week since Harlequins defeated the double winners of last season at the Stoop. Wasps will need to tighten up their kicking game, in particular but they are racking up an average of 39 points a game and remain the only unbeaten team in the league after five rounds.
This latest victory also helped to take the sting out of a Sunday newspaper story involving high jinks and a stripper during a private team party on a boat on the Thames at the end of last season. Given the most heinous allegation seemed to involve a bra being thrown overboard, with the occasional wearer of said undergarment being immediately reimbursed, the club believe the episode has been exaggerated and, after an investigation, are satisfied “no further action is required”.
The only thing repeatedly exposed in Coventry was Harlequins’ defence and Wasps wrapped up a bonus point inside 33 minutes. The Quins’ director of rugby, John Kingston, admitted his team had made it “too easy for them to score points”, described the final score as unacceptable but did applaud the hosts’ ruthless finishing. “They’re going to cause problems for anybody. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “They’re a good side.”
Of the assorted England candidates on view the most impressive was probably Elliot Daly, who scored one typically electric try and made another with a beautifully precise left-to-right pass which did not require his support runner, Dan Robson, to break stride en route to the line. Sam Jones and Nathan Hughes also did more than enough good things opposite the incumbent Test No6, Chris Robshaw, to head to England’s training camp in Brighton in good heart.
There was also a first Wasps try for Kyle Eastmond as his side, already 26-18 ahead at the interval, stretched away in the final quarter. When Joe Launchbury, James Haskell and Kurtley Beale are available after injury and the South African Willie le Roux arrives they will be even more of a handful – not a bad position for any director of rugby to be in.
“The really exciting thing is I still think there’s lots more to come,” said Dai Young, whose counterattacking specialists scored four first-half tries despite making only four incursions into the Quins’ 22.
He also reckons Guy Thompson – who barged through a host of tacklers to score Wasps’ second try – Danny Cipriani and Joe Simpson will continue to be motivated by their England squad omissions. “I’d be a liar if I said they’re not disappointed but I haven’t spent too much time talking to them about it. I’ve made it quite clear the only thing they can do is keep playing well for Wasps.”
The direct contest between Hughes and Jones and the star-studded Saracens back row will also interest Eddie Jones, particularly if Wasps come anywhere close to repeating last season’s 64-23 away win in the corresponding fixture.
Young reckons that was a one-off against under-strength opponents but admits the game will be a decent indicator of Wasps’ true standing.
“I can’t see that happening again; I’d be happy with a two-point win,” Young said. “I’m sure they’ll be hurting from last season but it’ll also be interesting to see how much we’ve come on. It’ll be a clear indication of where we are. You don’t win the double by accident.”
Wasps Miller (Eastmond, 57); Wade (Halai, 68), Daly, Gopperth, Bassett; Cipriani, Robson (Simpson, 60); Mullan (capt; McIntyre, 50), Johnson (Taylor, 60), Cooper-Woolley (Moore, 50), Symons, Myall, Jones, Thompson (Young, 55), Hughes.
Tries Johnson, Thompson, Robson, Daly, Wade, Eastmond, Bassett. Cons Gopperth 6.
Harlequins Brown; Yarde, Alofa (Stanley, 66), Roberts, Visser; Swiel (Lang, 68), Dickson (Mulchrone, 73); Lambert (Marler, 50), Gray (Ward, 50), Collier (Sinckler, 50), Merrick (Twomey, 65), Horwill (capt), Robshaw, Wallace, Chisholm (Naoupu, 68).
Tries Roberts, Chisholm. Con Swiel. Pens Swiel 2.
Referee G Garner (RFU). Attendance 16,004.
