London Irish 42 : 42 Wasps

The game seemed lost. Irish had been overwhelmed by a clinical and professional Wasps side, massively backed by a large following on their return to their spiritual home of Middlesex.

The score was 39-14 with 13 minutes left. Wasps had dominated since Tom Parton took a pass and scored in the 26th minute to give Irish a 14-7 lead, the last lead the Exiles held.

Thereafter, the guests pummelled the home side backed by an increasingly vociferous following as Francois Hourgaard tacked and scored his way to Man of the Match.

Gabriel Oghre, Hougaard 2, Charlie Atkinson and Zach Kibirige had scored Wasps tries but they had dominated all but the first ten minutes when the Irish were encamped on their line. That Wasps survived that opening barrage was a harbinger of events to come … until the last ten minutes.

Like 15 men suddenly possessed, they entertained the 12, 039 crowd with a withering display of running rugby aided by Paddy Jackson’s faultless boot.

Tom Pearson started the unlikely comeback but the try of the day belonged to young Henry Arundell. The youngster capped an amazing week, He had been a stand out in Irish’s Premier Cup semi final win over Leicester on April 26th. He scored twice in the semi but his star was about to rise even further.

With seven minutes left, he looked ahead and saw too many bulky defenders between him and the posts. Intelligently, he kicked instead. Then there was a seemingly yawning moment while the crowd waited to see how the ball would bounce. Arundell was fortunate and collected his own kick.

The crowd was lit. Roared on, Ollie Hassell-Collins scored on 78 to bring the score back to 35-39 but Wasps seeming put the game safe with a penalty as the seconds ticked away.

If anyone thought that was the mayhem, then the next instalment was carnage. The 80 were up and Wasps had possession. All they needed to do was put the ball out of play.

But a Irish maul was within feet and the mass seemed to roll over. The referee Craig Maxwell-Keys could not verify a green shirted arm touched the ball down and turned the decision over to the TMO.

Therein lay the shock. The TMO adjudged that Joe Launchbury had deliberately collapsed and awarded not just a try, but a penalty try; obviating the need for a conversion.

The whistle went and Wasps heads went down. To the neutral however, it had been the most fantastic spectacle.

Wasps coach Lee Blackett was understandably downbeat. He told the BBC:

“It feels like walking away with a heavy loss and not collecting three valuable points in a tough fixture away from home.

“I’m gutted because I thought I would be describing some terrific efforts from some of our players as they put in a massive effort for the first 65 minutes.

“We had managed the game superbly and were in total control, but then we became sloppy and every bounce of the ball went their way.

“I don’t regret taking certain players off as we believed that we had sufficient strength to see out the game.

“Behind Northampton’s result on Friday, I thought we had a good chance of making the play-offs, when they won I thought we had a faint chance. Now it’s extremely difficult but we will keep going.”

It’ll have to be quick. They visit Edinburgh in Saturday in the European Challenge Cup.

London Irish: Parton; Rowe, Rona, Van Rensburg, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Phipps; Goodrick-Clarke, Creevy, Hoskins, Nott, Simmons, Rogerson (capt), Pearson, O’Brien.

Replacements: Cornish, Gigena, Parker, Mafi, Tuisue, White, Joseph, Arundell.

Wasps: Kibirige; Hougaard, Fekitoa, Gopperth, Bassett; Atkinson, Robson; West, Oghre, Alo, Launchbury (capt), Stooke, Shields, J Willis, T Willis.

Replacements: Frost, Harris, Millar-Mills, Gaskell, Young, Porter, Umaga, Odogwu.

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