- in a bid to take collective minds off the impending game, the Quinssa coach party was treated to a Magical Mystery Tour of lovely Buckinghamshire. Now, this is the point where I could make a comment about the location of London Wasps, but it would just be too easy…)

Both teams took to the field and the scene was set. Act 1 – Danny Cipriani began the match. The kicks – which the ELVs seem to encourage were prevalent in the first few minutes – surely not a pattern of the game to come? After 5 minutes Wasps were awarded a penalty. I’m not going to be able to explain any of the ref’s decisions, and for that I apologise. I was at the other end of the pitch during the first half, but quite frankly, had I been metres away, I’d have been equally baffled. Anyway, Cipriani brought his kicking boots to the game and Wasps were 3-0 up.

More aerial ping-pong ensued, followed by handbags near the tryline and with 12 minutes gone, following a Cipriani penalty, Wasps were 6-0 up.

Tommy Williams charged down a kick in front of me (which I assumed was by Cipriani) but there was a lot of lateral passing, another feature of the game. Quins were penalised again (and again I have no idea why) and Cipriani made it 9-0 after 15 minutes.

Shortly after this, Quins were awarded a penalty, but rather than go for the points, Evans kicked to the corner, but the attacking threat was quickly snuffed out. There seemed to be yet more kicking, before some fisticuffs in the far corner led to Nick Easter being replaced by Tom Guest. There may have not been any fisticuffs and the whole incident could have been innocuous, but I was too far away (and already too cold. I forgot to mention how cold it was at the game) to care!

After some fantastic Quins defence, including an awesome last-ditch tackle by someone (again, my position wasn’t ideal), Wasps were awarded a penalty try, which Cipriani converted. After 22 minutes, Wasps were 16-0 up. Not an ideal start.

A few minutes later, Quins did take the penalty on offer, after an infringement by Dan Leo, and Nick Evans made the score 16-3.

This excitement wasn’t to last, however, the TMO gave a ‘dodgy’ try to Bishay (according to a Waspy in the vicinity) and whilst Cipriani missed the conversion, the score after 30 minutes was 21-3.

Croall was sin-binned a few minutes later, and Cipriani missed the ensuing penalty. Ugo left the field after 37 minutes, to be replaced by DeWet Barry, and with the half-time score unchanged, at 21-3, I wasn’t hopeful. Or warm. I definitely wasn’t warm.

Quins took a while taking to the field for the second half, and I’m sure the team talk wasn’t ‘more of the same, please lads’! Five minutes into the second half and Chris Malone replaced the injured Jordan Turner-Hall. We were dropping like flies. However, bringing Malone on did give us some structure and we played much better; our kicks were more probing and we started asking questions of Wasps.

We were awarded a penalty, and this was followed by a penalty try and an Evans conversion. Obviously I had no idea what was going on, but after 14 minutes of the second half, Wasps were 21-10 up. The fightback had begun!

There were a couple of subs (Leo taken off by Wasps, and Jim Evans replacing James Percival) and after 18 minutes, Simon Shaw was shown a yellow card. This may have been for repeat offending, but who really knew? After some excellent try-line defence, and an interception, Quins scored their second try. Evans wasn’t able to convert Care’s try and the scoreline was showing some respectability at 21-15. Surely the comeback kings couldn’t pull this off?

Cipriani was replaced by Dave Walder (which seemed to elicit the loudest cheer of the day!) and with 5 minutes to go, he kicked a penalty, taking the score to 24-15.

On 39 minutes, Quins were awarded a penalty, which Malone took, 24-18. The clock went down to zero with the ball in Quins’22 but in our hands. If we could manage 29 phases against SF, what about Wasps? Unfortunately, during this final passage of play, both Nick Evans and Aston Croall received lengthy treatment (it looked like cramp for Croall). The ball went from left to right and back again. And again. And again. And again a few more times. It seemed like a comeback too far, and Care kicked the ball out, leaving the final score 24-18.

Overall, the day was disappointing. I know that we kick the ball to the opposition to force a mistake, but if that doesn’t work, there doesn’t seem to be a ‘Plan B’. We do have a terrific fighting spirit, we don’t give up until the very end, but you can’t afford to let a team like Wasps score 16 unanswered points. Adams Park isn’t a nice place to watch rugby and I was gutted to have lost. I hope the injuries aren’t too serious and Saturday has become a must-win game for our top-6 aspirations.

Finally, back to my questions! Which Wasps team turned up? The one that knows how to play the ref. Did the underscore heating work? Thankfully yes, so no more trips to Adams Park this season. And were my nerves frayed? Yes, but that’s why we do it!

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Quinssa 6 Nations Dinner, Tuesday 10th February