Carr helps Wasps to historic win
SATURDAY WRAP: Wasps finally broke their AJ Bell Stadium curse, winning there for the first time as they beat Sale Sharks 31-13.
Sale went ahead early on when captain Jono Ross crossed for the fastest try of the season, but Wasps had turned it around by half-time through Nizaam Carr and Josh Bassett.
And they added some insurance in the second period through scores from Will Stuart and Nathan Hughes.
Elsewhere, Joe Cokanasiga scored his third try in two games as Bath Rugby made it back-to-back wins in the Premiership with dramatic 17-15 win against Northampton Saints at The Rec.
While, a metronomic Ian Madigan ended 12 years of hurt for Bristol Bears as they recorded a hard-fought 20-13 win over Harlequins for their second Premiership Rugby victory of the season.
Sale Sharks 13-31 Wasps
Sale had made the ideal start to the match, capitalising on a first-minute sin-bin for Hughes as Sharks captain Ross went over from close range, with AJ MacGinty adding the extras.
Lima Sopoaga and MacGinty then traded kicks, all before Hughes’ returned to the field.
Wasps finally burst into life five minutes from the break when a lovely interchange of passes saw Willie le Roux break the Sale line, offloading to Nizaam Carr who went over, with Sopoaga levelling the scores.
And they went ahead on the stroke of half-time when Michael Le Bourgeois timed his pass to Bassett perfectly out wide, who dotted down in the corner.
A MacGinty penalty cut Wasps’ lead to four points at the start of the second period, but Sale found themselves in trouble when Tom Curry was sent to the bin for tackling off the ball after good work from Bassett and Le Bourgeois.
And their misery was compounded when Will Stuart dived over for Wasps after a strong maul from the visitors set them up on the line before Sopoaga added two.
Wasps were cruising at this point, yet the return of Curry shifted momentum back in Sale’s favour, but heroic last-ditch defence from the visitors eventually prevented the Sharks from crossing despite a sustained pressure.
And Wasps saw out the match with a bonus-point score when Hughes avenged his earlier stint in the bin by crossing late on.
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Try: Ross
Con: MacGinty
Pens: MacGinty 2
For Wasps:
Tries: Carr, Bassett, Stuart, Hughes
Cons: Sopoaga 4
Pen: Sopoaga
Yellow Card: Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 30 seconds ), Ben Curry (Sale Sharks, 51 minutes)
Sale: 15 Byron McGuigan, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Jono Ross (c), 7 Ben Curry, 6 Tom Curry, 5 James Phillips, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Cameron Neild, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Alexandru Tarus, 18 Joe Jones, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Luke James, 23 Arron Reed
Wasps: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly (c), 12 Michael Le Bourgeois, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Nizaam Carr, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Zurabi Zhvania
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Tom West, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Ben Morris, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Billy Searle, 23 Rob Miller
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Philip Watters, Steve Lee
Television match official: Rowan Kitt
Bath 17-15 Northampton Saints
The visitors had taken the lead in the first-half through Cobus Reinach, but Bath fly-half Freddie Burns converted his own try to level the scores at the break.
A Burns penalty then put the Blue, Black and Whites ahead for the first time on 55 minutes, before Cokanasiga continued his try-scoring hot streak to extend Bath’s lead to 17-7.
Dan Biggar narrowed the gap with a penalty on 73 minutes after Bath strayed offside and a Tom Collins in the final minute gave the Welsh international a chance to draw the game.
But his conversion attempt from right on the touchline hit the post as Bath were able to hold on for their second victory in as many games in the league.
Dave Attwood, Taulupe Faletau and Aled Brew all returned to the starting for the hosts as they looked to back up their bonus-point win against Harlequins last week.
Darren Atkins also made his first start of the season against a Saints side that made four changes to the team which were narrowly beaten at home by champions Saracens in Round 3.
And despite heavy rain making conditions difficult, Semesa Rokoduguni came close to opening the scoring for Bath inside the opening five minutes after leaving multiple defenders in his trail.
The hosts continued to look dangerous on the wings, but they found themselves behind on 20 minutes when Reinach reacted quickest to a loose ball to touch down.
Biggar’s conversion gave Saints a 7-0 lead before Bath hit back through Burns, who intercepted a pass from Reinach and sprinted 80 metres to go under the posts.
His conversion put Bath level once again and that’s how it stayed until the break, after Burns missed a penalty opportunity on the cusp of half-time.
The start of the second half mirrored the start of the opening 40 minutes as both sides made plenty of handling errors but Burns put Bath ahead for the first time with a penalty on 55 minutes.
It was then the turn of Cokanasiga to work his magic, capitalising on a brilliant pass from Elliott Stooke and crossing the whitewash from 35m out, with Burns adding the extras.
However, just as the finishing line came into sight, Bath started to get sloppy and Biggar closed the gap with a penalty on 73 minutes after the defence strayed offside.
Saints began to pile more pressure on the home side and had a chance to escape with a draw in the dying seconds after Collins dotted down from an attack off a maul.
Biggar’s attempt from wide on the touchline agonisingly hit the post, though, ensuring Bath extended their unbeaten run to three games.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Tries: Burns, Cokanasiga
Cons: Burns 2
Pen: Burns
For Northampton:
Tries: Reinach, Collins
Cons: Biggar
Pen: Biggar
Bath: 15 Darren Atkins, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Aled Brew, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Joe Cokanasiga, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Max Green, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Luke Charteris (c), 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Max Wright
Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13 Andrew Symons, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Dylan Hartley (cc), 1 Alex Waller (cc)
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Ehren Painter, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Mitch Eadie, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Andrew Kellaway, 23 Harry Mallinder
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Tom Foley, Simon McConnell
Television match official: David Grashoff
Bristol Bears 20-13 Harlequins
After beating Bath Rugby on the opening day, Bristol had suffered consecutive defeats on the road but a return to Ashton Gate was just what the doctor ordered as they triumphed 20-13 – a first league win over Quins since 2006.
Madigan booted 15 points from the tee to add to Piers O’Conor’s try towards the end of the first half, while a trademark Danny Care try in the early going wasn’t enough to break the Londoners’ winless away streak, which stretches back to last November.
Swirling wind and rain in the West Country made handling tricky but it didn’t stop Bristol’s Irish fly-half from consistently doing damage from the tee as the Bears put any lingering frustration at blowing successive half-time advantages behind them.
Harlequins took an early lead thanks to a vintage Care try – the scrum-half exhibiting his trademark sniping run from the base of a ruck in the home 22 to weave over the line, before James Lang nailed the conversion.
A Lang penalty made it 10-0 and after a sluggish opening quarter, the Bears finally began to gain a foothold as Madigan took advantage of Quins being off their feet to get his side on the board with a three-pointer.
With Ben Tapuai in the sin-bin, Bristol started to press their one-man advantage but the visiting defence held firm as Nathan Earle did well to push a marauding Harry Thacker into touch and Alapati Leiua made a 30-metre break.
And Thacker was the architect when the Bears did grab a try on 36 minutes – the hooker making a scything break before his backs went left and O’Conor slid over in the corner from Andy Uren’s searching pass.
Madigan missed the conversion but ensured that for the fourth Gallagher Premiership Rugby game in a row they would lead at half-time, by slotting another penalty to make it 11-10.
Although they had blown their half-time advantage in the previous two games – against Saracens and Gloucester Rugby – Pat Lam’s men looked determined to convert their position of strength and Madigan took advantage of two Quins infringements early in the second period to extend the lead to 17-10.
Lang responded with an impressive 45-metre penalty of his own in the wind and rain but again Madigan was metronomic on the hour mark as he hammered a kick from tight on the right touchline straight between the posts.
With a seven-point advantage to preserve heading into the final 20 minutes, Bristol began to look tense – overthrowing a five-metre lineout when well-placed to add to their lead.
But despite Quins’ best efforts, and over 20 phases once the clock seeped into the red, they eventually knocked the ball on to end the game and hand the Bears a second Gallagher Premiership Rugby win of the season.
The scorers:
For Bristol:
Try: O’Conor
Pens: Madigan 5
For Harlequins:
Try: Care
Con: Lang
Pens: Lang 2
Bristol: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Will Hurrell, 12 Siale Piutau, 11 Alapati Leiua, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 George Smith, 6 Steve Luatua (c), 5 Chris Vui, 4 Ed Holmes, 3 John Afoa, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Yann Thomas
Replacements: 16 Nick Fenton-Wells, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Jake Armstrong, 19 Joe Joyce, 20 Jack Lam, 21 Harry Randall, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Zane Kirchner
Harlequins: 15 Aaron Morris, 14 Nathan Earle, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Ross Chisholm, 10 James Lang, 9 Danny Care, 8 James Chisholm, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Luke Wallace, 5 Ben Glynn, 4 Matt Symons, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Max Crumpton, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 Stan South, 20 Renaldo Bothma, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Paul Lasike
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Adam Leal, Jonathan Healy
Television match official: David Rose
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