If this is the shape of the latest Midlands derby to emerge from the furnace of English rugby, here’s to a long future of them. Before long we will have forgotten about Leicester-Northampton (maybe). Leicester and Wasps have always enjoyed a spicy relationship, mainly because of their status as English rugby’s most successful teams of the 21st century, but now there is this added geographical spice, with Wasps having relocated just down the road to Coventry.
Leicester might not appreciate the new edge. To lose their opening home fixture is an indignity rarely suffered by the Tigers. Last weekend they pulled off one of the great comebacks in this era of the comeback, and they threatened the same here, having fallen 27-8 behind five minutes into the second half. They pulled back to within five points with 15 minutes to go, and Wasps were down to 14 for 10 of them. But the visitors had played with speed and dexterity throughout, and it was they who finished the stronger. They missed three penalties in those last minutes, but Leicester ended the match down to 13 themselves.
Finally, Jimmy Gopperth, having missed two of those shots, finished the match with a try from a driven lineout of all things and converted from the touchline. It was a crazy end to a match that engrossed us from the start, when lightning hands from Danny Cipriani put Elliot Daly through on an inside ball in only the third minute. The Tigers managed to survive that scare – somehow – with the concession of only three points, from a Gopperth penalty – but it set the template for the match, Wasps’ speed of thought and foot vying with the more agricultural approach so often favoured by Leicester.
The hosts registered their first points from one of those guesswork scrum penalties at the end of the first quarter but a lineout and drive from Wasps forced them into conceding another penalty only two minutes later.
Two minutes later again, and Wasps registered the game’s first try. Again it owed much to wit over brawn. Gopperth felled a hefty charge from Luke Hamilton and by the time he was back on his feet he somehow had the ball in his hands and was away down the left. A perfect chip ahead to the line was expertly gathered and dotted down by Christian Wade.
At 13-3 down, Leicester were suitably exercised. They cranked up the aggression at the breakdown. After his own chip was fumbled by Joss Bassett, Lachlan McCaffrey was on hand at a subsequent ruck to force his way over. But Wasps pulled further away with two quick tries at the start of the second half. The first was a Keystone Cops affair of stumbling men and bobbling balls, finished when Guy Thompson bent to pick up one of the latter and powered between Marcos Ayerza and Mike Fitzgerald to gallop clear. Wasps’ next, though, featured that speed of thought and foot. Thompson set Thomas Young away from a scrum; Joe Simpson’s 40-yard sashay was ended by Peter Betham a few metres short; and Sam Jones powered over.
After that comeback last weekend in Kingsholm, though, a 27-8 deficit after 45 minutes seemed nothing to Leicester. Sure enough, they responded within a couple of minutes with some wit of their own. After his chip and gather Freddie Burns was off from out of his 22 and his cross-kick set up the position for Ed Slater to squeeze in at the corner.
Now Wasps were jittery. They conceded three penalties, all kickable, in the next 10 minutes, and Burns landed two of them to cut the deficit to eight. Further calamity for Wasps was to follow. The TMO intervened for a late-ish tackle by Thompson on Betham in the 64th minute, and the Wasps No8 received a yellow for it. When Burns converted his third penalty of the half, the Tigers were within five – with an extra man.
They could not make it tell. Another penalty was kicked to the corner, but the maul was dragged into touch – unthinkable negligence from Leicester. It got worse. After Gopperth’s missed penalty in the 74th minute, Ellis Genge, who had looked a real handful since his introduction, took out James Gaskell at the restart and saw yellow. Gopperth missed again. Then, with a minute remaining, Betham deliberately knocked on Ashley Johnson’s inside ball and joined Genge on the sidelines. This time, Wasps went for touch.
As if to atone for his errors, the ebullient Gopperth stole into the subsequent maul to finish off the final try, for the bonus point, no less – and the game. It had been a cracker. Midlands rugby is alive and well.
After the match Richard Cockerill, Leicester’s director of rugby, allayed fears that Manu Tuilagi’s latest absence is anything to be concerned about. But he also acknowledged that it is all tied up with the groin and hamstring problems that have blighted the England centre for the past two years.
“He’s got a tight groin,” said Cockerill. “It’s related to what he had previously. It’s nothing serious, just a bit tight, and we obviously want to look after it.”
All the more so, given that Leicester managed to secure Tuilagi’s signature earlier in the year, in the face of intense competition from elsewhere, with a deal worth a reported £450,000 a year.
