A 10-try finale to the season left players and spectators giddy at a venue nicknamed the Mad Stad. The only people not enjoying their post-match beer – as Glenn Delaney, London Irish’s head coach, joked afterwards – were the team’s defence coaches.
For Delaney, who becomes head of rugby operations in the summer when the new head coach, Tom Coventry, arrives from New Zealand, a draw was a result to be proud of. His team, despite their 10th place, had the better of Wasps and deserved the late try, engineered by Shane Geraghty, from the replacement wing Andy Short.
“The players have earned a beer,” Delaney said. “Defence coaches might not agree but two teams had a crack and I’m proud of how we came back.”
Dai Young, Wasps’ director of rugby, also had defence on his mind. His team may have finished as the Premiership’s top try scorers, with 77, but he believes his players concede too many easy points.
“Our achilles’ heel was on display out there a little bit,” Young said. “We did some very good things and then we switched off and gave easy points away. That’s got to be the big message. If we really want to be competitive at the top end, then teams have got to earn points far harder than we give them.”
Wasps took three points from this draw to finish in sixth place and claim the final automatic English spot in the European Champions Cup next season. To maintain the upbeat feel about the club’s move to Coventry, it was a bare minimum for Young’s squad.
A burst of 15 points in 11 minutes, including two tries, put Wasps 33-25 up after 61 minutes and they appeared in control. However, Irish’s drive to gain something from the final match of the season made the finale compelling. It came with Short’s try after a forward drive, led by James Haskell, had put the visitors back in front.
An individual high was a return to the Wasps starting XV for Joe Launchbury, who returned last week, as a second-half substitute against Leicester, following the neck injury that has wrecked his season. “He was a big factor in most of the good things we did and he’ll just want more contact training,” Young said about Launchbury’s full 80 minutes of effort that should delight Stuart Lancaster as he plans for the World Cup. The lock’s return gave Wasps a boost as Young felt they had looked tired “physically and mentally” in recent weeks after the draining European quarter-final away to the champions, Toulon.
Such European encounters look far off for an Irish team who will be entering a new era in the summer when Coventry takes over. The New Zealander arrives alongside a clutch of new players, led by the prop Ben Franks.
Irish will also benefit from the arrival of Andy Goode who finished his stint at Wasps by collecting 15 points. He was matched by Geraghty whose only error was to miss the difficult conversion of Short’s equalising try. Geraghty had made the try through some precision kicking which first established Irish in Wasps’ 22 before a left-footed cross-kick set Short free on the left. It was an outstanding moment which highlighted the effectiveness of Geraghty who is on the fringes of England’s training squad.
“It takes a rare talent to do something like that,” said Delaney, pushing the centre’s case. The coach was also quick to accept that Geraghty had plenty of competition though his hopes had been boosted by Manu Tuilagi’s fall from grace.
London Irish Fenby; Lewington, Griffin (Sheridan, 54), Geraghty, J Short (A Short, 73); Noakes, Allison; Court (Smallbone, 74), Paice (Stevens, 74), Palframan (Aulika, 56), Leo (Curry, 71), Sinclair, Narraway (Treviranus, 53), Cowan, Guest.
Tries Fenby, Lewington, Noakes, J Short, A Short. Cons Geraghty 3. Pens Geraghty 3.
Wasps Masi; Wade, Daly, Leiua (Miller, 21), Tagicakibau (Lozowski, 64); Goode, Davies (Weepu, 69); Mullan (McIntyre, 66), Lindsay (Jones, 55), Cittadini (Taylor, 75), Launchbury, Gaskell (Myall, 55), Johnson, Haskell, Thompson.
Tries Thompson, Tagicakibau 2, Miller, Haskell. Cons Goode 3.Pens Goode 3.
Referee JP Doyle. Attendance 9,295.
