Wasps see off Warriors
After their thumping win over Sale Sharks to open the Premiership season, they found tries harder to come by here, but after Marcus Watson's first-half effort, Le Roux and Bassett struck late to earn the win.
Worcester lost Nick Schonert to injury with the very first tackle of the game as he appeared to turn his ankle.
And after a cagey opening quarter, it was the visitors who hit the front with a Jimmy Gopperth penalty.
That was quickly followed by a wonderful score for Marcus Watson, the wing finishing brilliantly after a clever grubber through. Gopperth's conversion stretched the lead to 10-0.
Worcester thought they had levelled five minutes before half-time when Tom Heathcote burst through a gap to score but it was called back for obstruction from Sam Lewis in the build-up.
But they didn't have to wait long, with replacement Biyi Alo, on for Schonert, forcing his way over from close range. Tom Heathcote's conversion made it 10-7 at the break.
Worcester made the quicker start to the second half, with replacement flyhalf Sam Olver slotting a penalty to level matters after some concerted pressure.
Olver then had the chance to put his team in front for the first time, but his effort came back off the post.
Instead, it was Wasps who struck, opening up space on the left to send Le Roux away for a try 12 minutes from time.
And he was followed by Bassett, who collected Danny Cipriani’s inch-perfect cross-kick to jog over.
The scorers:
For Worcester:
Try: Alo
Con: Heathcote
Pen: Olver
For Wasps:
Tries: Watson, Le Roux, Bassett
Cons: Gopperth 3
Pen: Gopperth
Teams:
Worcester: 15 Josh Adams, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 GJ van Velze, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Pierce Phillips, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (captain), 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ryan Bower.
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 20 Alafoti Faosiliva, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Jamie Shillcock.
Wasps: 15 Willie Le Roux, 14 Marcus Watson, 13 Gaby Lovobalavu, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 Alex Rieder, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Joe Launchbury (captain), 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Ashley Johnson, 1 Simon McIntyre.
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Matt Symons, 20 Jack Willis, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Brendan Macken, 23 Rob Miller.
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales, Nigel Carrick
TMO: Rowan Kitt
