Round four became the third and fourth halves of Round three. Bath had pinched the points last Sunday, but this was unfinished business and Wasps completed the job in style. They could not quite win themselves a bonus point but they made a fair mess of Bath up front and rediscovered the form that had made them the post World Cup sensations of the game in England. That is, until Exeter and this very same Bath outfit put a halt to their charge.
This was more like it, a blend of power and speed, a cocktail to serve with a flourish before Eddie Jones, who was tucked into the stand. Wasps began with the intent of a side mightily displeased with themselves for letting part one of this mini-series slip from their grasp. Elliot Daly caught the kick-off in his own 22 and weaved his way, untouched, into the Bath half. The home team were jolted at the outset and not for the last time.
They recovered to prevent the try and did pull themselves sufficiently together to allow the backs to string together their passes. David Attwood helped no end by stealing two lineouts on the Wasps throw and Jonathan Joseph gave a glimpse of how dangerous Bath could be by putting Nick Auterac, a prop of bulging arms and speedy breaks, through a gap in midfield.
In this short period of efficiency, Bath took the lead. It took a little time to work out the geometry of Kyle Eastmond’s pass to Semesa Rokoduguni, but it was adjudged legal and their smart use of stolen ball was rewarded. George Ford, carrying on from where he had settled the outcome at the Ricoh Arena, converted from the touchline.
It was the last home cheer to be raised for a while. Auterac was prominent in attack but he was having a rough old time in the front row, where Matt Mullan, Ashley Johnson – the former Springbok flanker converted into a hooker – and Lorenzo Cittadini were setting about the long-term and large-scale demolition of the home scrum, investment work complemented by more immediate progress elsewhere. Jimmy Gopperth, positively bouncing on the tips of his toes, kicked a penalty. Three minutes later, David Denton tried to pass out of contact to Anthony Watson, but the ball ran loosely to Joe Simpson, who fed Daly for the try.
Two more penalties from Gopperth sat either side of an interesting little incident. Wasps heaved Bath off their own scrum ball, an open invitation for the formidable Nathan Hughes to pick up at No8 and ran at – and through – Ford. Hughes won but when the hooker Johnson tried to repeat the embarrassment of a half-back, he found himself upended by Niko Matawalu. The Fijian scrum-half may not have given Ford the easiest armchair ride with his decisions and his slowish left-to-right pass, but he was a tiger in the tackle.
The trouble for Bath was that their collective resistance could not match the individual. Their scrum travails began to tell and Hughes had a second opportunity to flatten Ford. The charge led to a five-metre scrum, which ended with Gopperth touching down with four tacklers hanging on to him. Gopperth converted from the touchline; surely the issue was settled.
Bath’s first scrum of the second half went the familiar way: backwards and with a free-kick awarded against them. Off went Auterac and David Wilson, followed shortly by Ross Batty. On came Max Lahiff, Henry Thomas and Rob Webber.
Round the game briefly turned. Suddenly Wasps were feeling the pressure at the scrum. Ford kicked a penalty. It created doubt, this sudden loss of domination. Hughes, towering until now, was stripped of the ball in a tackle only for Rhys Priestland, on at half-time for Eastmond, to kick this turnover treasure away. If the turnaround at the scrum was to lead to anything Bath had to rediscover their fluency behind.
They could not. Having lost control last week, Wasps retook the initiative now. They ordered the scrum to concentrate and the defensive line to stiffen. Bath drove into a wall. Gopperth kicked a fourth penalty before Daly dropped a goal. It was a good day for the centre in front of the England coach and not a bad one for Gopperth, who ended with 23 points, kicking the conversion of Alapati Leiua’s try after making a clean break from a lineout. The watching Jones would have been interested, but only mildly, in the performance of the New Zealander.
Who else might have caught his eye? Joe Launchbury was industrious and classy throughout; Hughes put a marker down for a later date – he does not qualify for England until next summer – and James Haskell was full of vim, as usual. They played well, but it was the collective effort that counted. Wasps are winning again.Bath Watson, Rokoduguni, Joseph, Eastmond (Priestland 41), Banahan (Homer 68); Ford, Matawalu (Cook 50); Auterac (Lahiff 45), Batty (Webber 48, Batty), Wilson (Thomas 45), Garvey, Attwood, Houston, Louw (capt) (Mercer 20), Denton. Sin-bin Rokoduguni 71
Try Rokoduguni Con Ford Pen Ford
Wasps Miller, Halai, Daly (Jackson 75), Jacobs (Leiua 61), Piutau (Robson 76); Gopperth, Simpson; Mullan (McIntyre 61), Johnson (Shervington 54), Cittadini, Launchbury, Davies (Gaskell 61), Haskell(capt), Smith, Hughes (Jones 66)
Tries Daly, Gopperth, Leiua Cons Gopperth 3 Pens Gopperth 4 Drop goal Daly
Referee Romain Poite (France)
Attendance 12,961
