Wasps sting toothless Leinster
An early Ruaridh Jackson penalty handed Wasps the lead before Johnny Sexton hit back with two of his own as Leinster camped out in the Wasps' half. Jackson levelled the score in the 20th minute of a hard-hitting encounter.
Dave Kearney was on hand to produce a great try-saving tackle on once-capped All Black wing Frank Halai, who looked a real handful alongside Piutau. Centre Elliot Daly stepped up to nail a long-range penalty to restore the visitors' lead as Leinster infringed when trying to play their way out of their own 22.
Kearney was made to pay for a cruel bounce from a Joe Simpson box kick when electric wing Christian Wade skipped past the Ireland wing for a simple dot down, Jackson got the extras. Wade was guilty of a knock-on on the stroke of half-time with a clear run-in to the tryline after great work by Wasps' No.8 Nathan Hughes.
Wasps got the ideal start to the second period, live wire scrumhalf Simpson scorching over for the team's second try after a smart break and offload from Halai. Jackson's conversion took Wasps out to 23-6 to leave Leinster with a mountain to climb in the final 30 minutes.
That was compounded after an elementary mistake by Leinster saw replacement Jack Conan pick up a Kearney knock-on of a long-range Daly penalty kick in an offside position, Jackson making no mistake with the second opportunity in front of the posts.
Piutau was credited with Wasps' third try after collecting a rebound from Sailosi Tagicakibau's effort that fell just short of the line. The New Zealander was perfectly placed to pick up and cross the whitewash. Replacement Alex Lozowski converted to wrap up a convincing victory.
Scorers:
For Leinster:
Pens: Sexton 2
For Wasps:
Tries: Wade, Simpson, Piutau
Cons: Jackson 2, Lozowski
Pens: Jackson 3, Daly
Teams:
Leinster: 15 Ian Madigan, 14 Zane Kirchner, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain), 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Tadhg Furlong 19 Hayden Triggs, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Cathal Marsh, 23 Garry Ringrose.
Wasps: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Frank Halai, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 George Smith, 6 Sam Jones, 5 Bradley Davies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Matt Mullan (captain).
Replacements: 16 Ashley Johnson, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Sailosi Tagicakibau.
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
