Wasps (18) 37
Tries: Varndell 2, Haughton Cons: Walder 2 Pens: Van Gisbergen, Walder 5
Leicester (30) 30
Tries: Smith, Youngs, Twelvetrees, Croft Cons: Staunton 2 Pens: Staunton 2
 Varndell's first-half brace against his old club kept Wasps in touch at half time
Richard Haughton's dramatic late try handed Wasps their first win of the season against Leicester at Adams Park. The scoreboard see-sawed in the first half after Tom Varndell scored inside five minutes. The visitors hit back with four tries before the break via Matt Smith, Ben Youngs, Billy Twelvetrees and Tom Croft - Varndell claiming another in reply. Dave Walder's boot pulled Wasps level at 30-30 with nine minutes remaining before Haughton's sensational winner. Varndell opened the scoring when Jeremy Staunton's drop-out kick fell straight to him in space and he seared away from the covering tacklers to cross in the corner. Van Gisbergen missed the difficult conversion but landed an equally impressive penalty to give the hosts an eight-point lead on 10 minutes. Tigers, looking for their first win at Adams Park since 2007, began to assert their strength up front and thought they had scored when Thomas Waldrom touched the ball against the post protector but the video referee declared it too high.  | TOM FORDYCE'S BLOG |
Staunton kicked the penalty that followed and shortly after the Leicester backs, who had started slowly, produced some brilliant handling to put Smith over in the left corner. A storming run by Andy Powell came to nothing when his opposite number Waldrom intercepted Nic Berry's pass and the New Zealander broke for the line only to be hauled down yards short by Rikki Flutey. Staunton pulled Tigers level at 11-11, before Youngs surged away with a tap-and-go penalty, leaving Van Gisbergen for dead, and raced 50m to under the posts to give his side the lead for the first time. Varndell's second, from a neat inside pass by Walder, then pulled the scores even again at 18-18 after the stand-off added a brilliant conversion from distance. Twelvetrees hit back immediately with his try, after Van Gisbergen missed a tackle, and Croft capped an imperious first-half performance with a try of his own moments before the interval to give the Tigers a bonus point. Leicester emerged without Staunton at fly-half as Twelvetrees moved inside from centre to cover, but the change disrupted their tempo and allowed Walder to dominate in midfield. | 606: DEBATE |
Wasps upped their intensity after the break and, despite Croft's utter dominance at the line-out, Tigers could not to turn their possession into points. The hosts' continual pressure resulted in five converted penalties from Walder's boot to draw them level at 30-30 with nine minutes to play. The game came to a dramatic conclusion when Walder's chip-kick to the corner looked to be covered by Geordan Murphy before it sprang up and over the Ireland full-back's reach. Haughton, who had replaced Varndell at half time, gathered the ball to score before Walder added the conversion to seal a memorable win for the Londoners.
Wasps coach Shaun Edwards said:
"With our fly-half David Walder on that form we made sure we did not go out there and try big plays in the second half but play sensibly. "Mark van Gisbergen has some work to do in terms of defence as a result of that missed tackle for one of their tries, but then he made a try-saving tackle earlier, as he has often done. "I told the boys to be calm and not chase things too much but get our defence solid and build our way back." Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill said:
"We did take two points from the game, but we should have had five. "We could go home all doom and gloom and sulk, but on the other hand we played some tremendous stuff in the first half. "Then at the end, a mistake by Geordan [Murphy], sees them score a try and he's feeling down. But that guy has won more games for us than he has lost and will get our full support. "We did suffer from losing Jeremy Staunton at half-time with an Achilles injury, which left us with two young lads in the key play-making areas. But all the players will be the better from this experience."
Wasps: Van Gisbergen; Varndell, Waldouck, Flutey, Lemi; Walder, Berry; Payne, Webber, Broster, Shaw, Cannon, Worsley, Rees (capt), Powell. Replacements: Haughton for Varndell (46), Ward for Webber (55), Birkett for Cannon (45), Ward-Smith for Powell (61). Leicester: Murphy (capt); Hamilton, Smith, Twelvetrees, A Tuilagi; Staunton, Youngs; Ayerza, Chuter, Castrogiovanni, Slater, Skivington, Croft, Woods, Waldrom. Replacements: Agulla for Murphy (76), M Tuilagi for Staunton (41), Cole for Castrogiovanni (51). Att: 8,006 Ref: Wayne Barnes (RFU).
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