Hurricane Hughes gets the monkey off Wasps
DAI Young claimed the bonus-point win was “a monkey off our back” after Wasps piled on the misery for struggling Warriors and eased any of their own relegation concerns at the Ricoh Arena.
Director of Rugby Young breathed a huge sigh of relief after a result which lifted his side up to seventh in the Premiership and left Worcester still just three points above bottom placed Newcastle Falcons who lost at Saracens.
Young was delighted at the way his side responded under the pressure of being sucked further into trouble with England No.8 Nathan Hughes grabbing two tries in what was a crucial victory for the hosts.
The Welsh coach admitted: “This was a real monkey off our back. The boys were feeling the pressure a little bit and hopefully this will relieve some of it.
“We have two massive games coming up against the two best teams in the country and nobody will give us a chance against Saracens and Exeter, so winning this one was crucial.”
Wasps fell behind to a first-minute Duncan Weir penalty but quickly regrouped and were very much in control of this contest within 15 minutes of the start thanks to tries from Hughes and Marcus Watson.
Hughes used his impressively strong frame to charge and then twist and turn his way over from close range after Wasps took full advantage of a poor Warriors lineout. Sopoaga converted.
Worcester were forced onto the defensive as Wasps threatened to race over their line with every attack.
However, the visitors were powerless to stop exciting young wing Watson from darting over in the right hand corner as a fast handling, free-flowing move stretched their defence into breaking.
Sopoaga, whose kicking was excellent throughout, sent his conversion sailing through from the touch line and he was doing the same again when Georgian prop Zurabi Zhvania grabbed the ball from the side of a ruck a few yards from the line and dived over.
Wasps had surged into an 18-point advantage yet then came an admirable response from a Worcester outfit determined to do everything to avoid relegation.
With half-back duo Weir and Francois Hougaard always probing, Warriors scraped away at the lead with flanker Sam Lewis charging over for his side’s first try converted by Weir.
Wasps were reduced to 14 men for ten minutes with centre Gaby Lovobalavu sin-binned for a late tackle on Josh Adams which prevented a possible Warriors try. Weir then kicked a penalty on the stroke of half-time to give the visitors hope of a second half revival.
But Hughes is a man for the big stage. And the No.8 showed his finishing power again, strolling over after the Warriors’ defence was broken 15 minutes from time.
The home fans went away feeling happier about their Premiership plight while Worcester supporters face four more games of worry despite being three points above Newcastle.
CLOSE-UP
WILLIE LE ROUX
Wasps full-back
CHRIS PENNELL.
Worcester full-back
Le Roux is a tough man to stop when on this kind of form, and the Wasps No.15 was involved in most of his side’s dangerous attacks with quick feet and handling. He backed it up with some brave, defiant tackling while Pennell is also a class act who at times had to come to his team’s rescue with a cool head and hefty boot.
He also made some fine scything runs with little support.
