Wasps hold off Glasgow fight back
Wasps defeated Glasgow 38-26 in their second game in the Heineken Cup on Sunday 17 October.
The English side scored four tries to secure an important bonus point. The tries came from Joe Simpson, Tom Varndell, Ben Jacobs and Dominic Waldouck.
Ruaridh Jackson and Dougie Hall scored the Glasgow’s tries and Jackson managed a haul of 19 points in total with four penalties and a conversion to add to his tally.
Wasps made a fantastic start to the game as man of the match Simpson scored a superb individual try. The scrum-half picked up the ball from the base of the scrum in the Glasgow 22, before he raced free
and dived past the despairing Glasgow defence.
Jackson replied with a penalty for the Scottish side before David Walder kicked a penalty of his own for the hosts.
Walder scored his second penalty after Moray Low was sin binned for putting hands in the ruck.
The out-half played a big role in the next try as his grubber kick was caught by Varndell who outpaced the Glasgow defence to score a crucial try.
Glasgow responded well and Jackson scored after he pounced on John Barclays chip through. The conversion and another penalty by the Glasgow fly-half saw his side close the gap to 18-13.
A Walder penalty and a jinking Jacobs run and try restored Wasps lead at half-time.
The Glasgow coach Sean Lineen admitted that his side needed to be stronger in the first half.
"We had a poor first 20 minutes collectively. They weren't doing anything special and we were hanging off them.”
"The tries were too soft. We showed more spirit in the second half and scored a couple of tries ourselves," added the Glasgow coach.
In the second half Jackson and Walder knocked over a penalty each before Waldouck crashed over the line after some good work by Riki Flutley and Dan Ward-Smith.
Glasgow scored a consolation try late on as Henry Pyrgos off load set up Hall to score. The Wasps defence managed to hold on and keep Glasgow at bay for the remainder of the match to deny the Scottish
side a losing bonus point.
Wasps’ rugby director Tony Hanks said,
"We're rapt. It puts us in a better position in the pool. This was a huge game that we had to win to stay in the pool.”
"If you look at all the other pools and scenarios they're all quite tight. You can't afford to be none from two at this point," he added.
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