Harlequins 3
Wasps 23
WASPS WERE NO doubt delighted with their unexpected raid of The Stoop tonight but Matt O’Connor and his Leinster team were probably just as ecstatic because of what it means for their hope of securing a home quarter-final.
As it stands, a Leinster win in Coventry next Saturday – which will be very hard to achieve, it must be said – would almost certainly see Leinster get one of the lucrative home quarter-final spots.
Despite coming into the game as favourites, Conor O’Shea’s men could never get in the ascendancy in front of their home crowd.
Andy Goode opened the scoring for the visitors from the tee after Quins wing Tom Williams was penalised for a high tackle on centre Alapati Leuia.
Ten minutes later Danny Care gifted the visitors the first try of the game. He took a quick tap to generate momentum but his lofted pass was read by Christian Wade and the wing took it straight under the posts.
And after a quarter of the game it got even better for Wasps after scrum-half Joe Simpson found multiple buyers for his dummy and sauntered through the defence and under the posts for his side’s second try.
Quins had a host of chances to get back in the game in the first half – not least when Nathan Hughes spent ten minutes in the bin – but somehow the Wasps defence held them out.
Andy Goode extended Wasps lead to 20 with a long-range penalty two minutes into the second half but Ben Botica struck back immediately after Wasps were penalised for going offside.
Conor O’Shea must have realised the game was slipping away when Elliot Daly nailed a monster 55 metre penalty to restore the visitors 20-point advantage ten minutes into the second half.
Both sides had chances to score again, but Wasps were able to hold on to set up that mouthwatering clash with Leinster next Saturday.
