By Mark Huckerby
April 13 2005

A rejuvenated Saracens outfit visited Wasps hoping to push for a third place league finish. In recent seasons Wasps have often outclassed their London rivals, but under Steve Diamond Saracens have found a new lease of life and were hopeful of making a late surge into the second semi final berth Wasps meanwhile were aiming to secure at least a third consecutive runners up spot and home semi final. Moreover they were hoping to make Saracens pay after their disastrous start to the Premiership campaign at Twickenham back in September.

Paul Sackey’s impressive display at Sale meant Rob Hoadley made room in the backline with Josh Lewsey switching to centre. Up front Tom Rees retained the number 7 jersey with Jonny O’Connor’s neck injury keeping him sidelined. The real interest however was the return of Richard Hill to the Saracens twenty two.

Wasps started brightly and excellent ball carrying from Worsley and Erinle set up a chance for Van Gisbergen to jink his way towards the Saracens line. A penalty for diving into the ruck allowed Saracens to clear, but it was only another four minutes before Joe Worsley opened the scoring. A neat lineout move brought Tom Voyce in off his wing on a loop. Quick presentation from Voyce enabled the Wasps backs to attack against a disorganised defence and Worsley was the beneficiary of a lovely flat pass which put him through a gap in the dogleg defence and under the posts. Van Gisbergen’s conversion made it Wasps 7 Saracens 0.

Wasps then decided to assert themselves upfront. Sackey claimed the restart and the Wasps pack mauled their opponents 60 metres before Saracens were finally forced to concede a penalty. Van Gisbergen made the score 10-0 and things appeared to be getting even worse for Sarries when the captain Vyvyan lost his head and flyhacked a loose ball 60m over the dead ball line to concede a scrum to Wasps on halfway. Never a side to make things easy for themselves though, Wasps gifted Saracens a try straight from the scrum. Matt Cairns latched onto a loose Alex King pass and showed his pace from 40 metres to touch down. Nicky Little slotted the conversion to make the score 10-7 to Wasps after 12 minutes.

Wasps then began to regain their momentum and excellent surges again from Worsley, Erinle and Voyce carried Wasps up to the Saracens 22 metre line. Erinle acted as dummy runner from a scrum and with a huge overlap Josh Lewsey floated a perfect pass into the arms of Paul Sackey who finished in the corner. With 20 minutes gone the added Van Gisbergen conversion gave Wasps a 17-7 lead. Wasps continued to show their attacking intent and a neat steal by Will Green on the Wasps 10m line allowed Lewsey to put Ayoola Erinle clean through the Saracens defence. The final pass to Van Gisbergen was knocked on, but excellent pressure from Matt Dawson and the Wasps pack meant a scrum turnover. Dallaglio demonstrated his ball handling ability with a sublime dive pass to King off the base of the scrum. King fed Erinle who, twenty yards out and from a standing start, made mincemeat of the Sarries defence to score Wasps third try. Van Gisbergen’s conversion put Wasps firmly in control, 24-7 ahead after 26 minutes.
Saracens then struck back with a Nicky Little penalty, but they posed little threat against an organised Wasps defence. It was Wasps own new found attacking weapon Paul Sackey who looked to have scored his second of the afternoon with 35 minutes gone. However Steve Lander denied Sackey the try, deeming the ball to have been knocked on over the line. Wasps only had to wait four minutes for their next score though. Erinle was once more instrumental, as he intercepted a wild pass and set off towards the Saracens line. Erinle demonstrated his growing maturity to keep a cool head and he used his height to throw a neat basketball style pass to Tom Voyce who was on hand to score.

With the score at 31-10 Saracens were hoping for the halftime whistle. But with five minutes of injury time to be played there was still a chance for Wasps to inflict even more pain and it was Josh Lewsey who drove the knife home. Lewsey carved through the Saracens defence 60metres out and arced upfield. It appeared as he stopped short of the 22 that the move had broken down, but Lewsey fired a long pass which picked out Paul Sackey. Sackey once more showed that there are few better players in a 1 on 1 situation as he stood up Ben Johnston. Van Gisbergen added the two to bring the score to 38-10 at halftime.

Just as they had done up at Sale, Wasps took their foot off the gas after the restart and as a result the game went flat with Saracens still unable to unpick the Wasps defence. The introduction of Richard Hill on 47 minutes and the departure of Alex King five minutes later appeared to shift the balance of play in Saracens favour. Hill’s return was greeted with many fans on their feet to welcome him back to action, and the big man was immediately penalised for going off his feet at the next ruck. With Hill adding some bite upfront and Wasps substitutions disrupting their defensive organisation, Nicky Little started to find gaps to run at. He put Kevin Sorrell clean through to pull a try back after 53 minutes, and it was only Saracens inability to finish a three on one after another Little break that prevented the scores from getting even closer.

On 70 minutes Phil Greening made way for Trevor Leota, after an excellent display which had seen Wasps claim clean lineout ball all afternoon. The Wasps passing began to get even more loose as they attempted to play sevens style rugby. The breakdown in passing made the second half a frustrating one for Wasps spectators who were hoping to see the same killer instinct which Leicester applied against Newcastle earlier in the season. With three minutes of normal time remaining, Richard Hill marked his comeback with a try as he waltzed through a non-existent Wasps defence to make the score 38-24.

Wasps did have the last word though and excellent pressure in the dying minutes allowed Joe Worsley to break through and touch down for his second try. Van Gisbergen made the final score Wasps 45 Saracens 24.

A frustrating second half aside, a bonus point win for Wasps guarantees them second place and takes them to within 4 points of leaders Leicester. Saracens remain in the mix for the other semi final spot and Wasps fans will be hoping they can do us favour by turning Leicester over at Vicarage Road next Weekend. With Richard Hill back to form and fitness that might just happen.

Man of the Match: Erinle made the most of some lacklustre defending to show why his name has cropped up so much in the media recently. Paul Sackey takes it though. Some superb finishing proves he was wasted at Oirish and his all round game looked solid with some excellent highball claims under pressure and a hunger for work.