Castres 17-32 Wasps
THE GAME COULD have turned into an exercise in nothingness since both Castres and Wasps came into their clash at the Stade Pierre Antoine with two defeats from their opening two Champions Cup games but a late blitz from the visitors mean they return home with a bonus point win that gives them a lifeline in qualifying to the knockout rounds.
The game turned on a controversial decision from the TMO with ten minutes left, when he ruled that Castres wing Sitiveni Sivivatu’s tackle to prevent Tom Varndell from scoring was high, and therefore prevented a try-scoring opportunity.
A penalty try was awarded, Sivivatu was sin-binned and Wasps converted to pull two scores clear at 25-17.
The first half started with a flurry of tries as Mathieu Bonello’s score for the home side was sandwiched with Wasps five-pointers from Rob Miller and Nathan Hughes.
All of this was in the first fifteen minutes and after Andy Goode increased his side’s lead to 15-7, it looked like the game was there for the taking but Remi Lamerat crossed the line before half time and Rory Kockott’s conversion reduced the visitor’s lead to the minimum.
Lamerat touched down on the back of a powerful 13-man maul.
The second half wasn’t as open and penalties from Julien Dumora and Andy Goode were the only scores before the late penalty try.
To Wasps’ credit, they continued to press for that all-important fourth try and they got it with five minutes to play, with Ben Jacobs collecting an Andy Goode chip before feeding Sailosi Tagicakibau to score.
Wasps are now in third place in pool two on seven points, with Leinster and Harlequins both on eights points before their match at the Stoop today.
