Goode: Christmas has come early
Forgotten England flyhalf Andy Goode claimed a record individual 33-point haul as Wasps eased to a 48-16 Premiership win over London Irish on Sunday – in their first game at the Ricoh Arena.
A crowd of 28,254 saw Wasps begin their new life in Coventry after the club's controversial move north from Adams Park in Wycombe with Goode, who was born in the city, stealing the show with a try, eight penalties and two conversions to eclipse the previous highest individual record by a point.
"I normally sleep petty well the night before games, but I couldn't sleep well before this one," said 34-year-old Goode.
"What a day. Cliches are made for days like this…Christmas has come early! To get the bonus point was pretty special.
"I've been a fair few times with friends to watch Coventry City play, so to run out at that arena is unbelievable. It couldn't have gone any better for me. I took a hammering all week from my little girl for missing five kicks last weekend.
"She made me change my boots and as I came off the field she said to me '"You're keeping those boots forever daddy'.
"As a kicker and a player you don't go out to get these records, so to find out I'd done it was amazing. If the record is still standing, it will be something I [will] look back on at the end of my career."
He also had lots of praise for his teammates.
"The boys put in some hard work up front – Ed Shervington, James Haskell – to get me some penalties to kick and then we've got the bonus point at the end, which makes it even more special.
"What a spectacle. To have 28,500 people, the people of Coventry have come out to support us and we're delighted with it.
"This is my second year at the club but there are guys who have been here years and years – backroom staff, kit men and all the fans as well – and we have seen some tough times over the last few years.
"We were 20 minutes away from going bust and to see the effort that everyone off the field has put in to get to today, it just makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up."
Meanwhile Wasps Director of rugby Dai Young admitted he found a first victory at the Ricoh Arena overwhelming.
"I'm not an emotional man but I did feel a bit emotional before the game because two years ago we weren't far from going bust," said Young.
"So to see the crowd here and playing at a fantastic stadium that we can call home shows we have come a long way.
"I thought we were very edgy in the first half, we were snapping at the ball and couldn't get our game going really but thankfully in the last 20 minutes we started to pull away.
"We were too lateral first half and were not getting much penetration so we decided to keep it much tighter and keep it simple and more direct to get that penetration before sending it wide and that paid off for us."
Ill-discipline played a large part in Irish's downfall as they conceded 20 penalties throughout the game, while David Paice's yellow card in the second half proved costly with Wasps running in two tries.
That is now six defeats in a row for Irish in the Premiership, who next face bottom side London Welsh on Boxing Day, and Director of Rugby Brian Smith insists his side must improve.
"It is very disappointing. We have a very frustrated group of players," said Smith.
"We spoke at half-time and we knew the game would come down to penalties and it was a matter of making sure you were in the right field position.
"The penalty count did not help. It was one try apiece until we got a yellow card, then it got pretty messy at the back end.
"I don't want to take anything away from Wasps. This is their party. From a coaching point of view the boys stepped up and did what we asked them to do.
"All that Wasps possession wears you down. Fair play to them. They have a terrific stadium here and terrific team and we just have to cop it on the chin and move on."
