 Humphreys was playing in only his second league game this season |
Wasps: (10) 10
Tries: King
Pens: Staunton
Cons: Staunton
Drop goals: King Leicester (10) 19
Tries: Jennings
Pens: Humphreys (4)
Cons: Humphreys
Leicester carved out victory over Wasps to climb to third in the table and end Wasps' unbeaten home run this season.
A try from captain Alex King had put Wasps ahead after 18 minutes but Tigers flanker Shane Jennings picked up a loose ball to response in kind.
Solid conversions saw a scrappy first half end with the scores tied on 10-10.
Wasps had a try ruled out early in the second half and the frustration told as Ian Humphreys kicked three penalties for Leicester before King's drop goal.
The home side's momentum was disrupted in the first half when centre Ayoola Erinle got caught in a ruck after 10 minutes and was taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg.
After Edd Thrower's second-half touchdown was ruled out because of a forward pass by James Haskell, Wasps threw everything at Leicester.
But they only succeeded in giving away further penalties as Peter Bracken was sin-binned for a high tackle and the referee hauled up Wasps for indiscipline in the scrum.
In the end, King's drop goal was only enough to salvage a bonus point, and not the game.
Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan:
"We were only on the front foot for the last five minutes and it is a difficult game to play if you are not on the front foot. "If we did that every week, I would be worried and I do not it repeated.
"The contact area was very poor. Leicester were more clever off their feet and we were a bit slow to react."
Leicester coach Pat Howard:
"That ranks up there as one of our best away performances. "I was unbelievably impressed with a lot of players. The spirit as a whole was fantastic.
"It's going to be very tough for some of the internationals to get back into the side and it will be incredibly difficult to pick a back row."
Wasps: Thrower, Sackey, Erinle, Waters, Voyce, King, Reddan, McKenzie, Ward, Bracken, Shaw, Skivington, Haskell, Rees, Dallaglio (capt).
Replacements: Webber, Adams, Purdy, O'Connor, McMillan, Staunton, Cipriani.
Leicester: Vesty, Murphy, Hipkiss, Gibson, Varndell, Humphreys, Ellis, Moreno, Buckland, Holford, Cullen (capt), Deacon, Abraham, Jennings, Crane.
Replacements: Hickie, Young, Croft, Tuilagi, Bemand, Cornwell, Murphy.
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