Wasps on front foot as Frank Halai tries leave London Irish struggling

Frank Halai’s two tries bookended what will go down as Wasps’ first away win of the Premiership season but there was an overriding sense of it coming after the Lord Mayor’s show at Twickenham – and not least because it followed Saracens’ stellar showing.

The New Zealand wing scored his side’s first try of the match, just before half-time, and rounded off the bonus-point victory which lifts Wasps into the top four but the European swagger of recent weeks was notably absent against a workmanlike London Irish, who remain empty-handed from their first five matches. Elliot Daly showed glimpses of quality but this was not a vintage Wasps performance. Irish, to their credit, ensured it would not be – typified by the relentless tackling of their captain, Matt Symons.

“I thought we looked a little bit flat in attack and defence but it’s a sign of good team, we’re not always going to play how we want but I always felt like we would win the game,” said Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young. “The two [European] games were always going to take it out of us, the intensity was international quality. But it shows how far we’ve come, we’ve always had big performances in us, one offs, but backing it up has always eluded us.”

Wasps began with verve but, Nathan Hughes aside, they lacked in penetration. In the first 20 minutes, Joe Simpson failed to get the ball wide with numbers on the left and James Haskell and Halai on one wing, then Daly and James Gaskell on the other failed to finish promising openings.

They did lead, thanks to two Ruaridh Jackson penalties to one from his Irish counterpart Chris Noakes but Wasps’ overly lateral approach and some white-line fever kept the Exiles in it. When Halai got the first try, it was telling that he simply could not miss after Simpson fizzed the pass in the left corner but Irish were back to within three in first-half injury time as London Irish’s teenage centre Johnny Williams succeeded on his Premiership debut where Toulon, Leinster and Gloucester had all previously failed in scoring a try against Wasps.

Hughes was just abrasive after the break but Jackson missed another simple penalty before even Charles Piutau, the former All Black who oozes class, knocked on. Irish were beginning to scent their first points of the season but after another scrum penalty – the World Cup-winning prop Ben Franks made quite the impact on debut – Noakes was similarly wayward and was swiftly punished. Ashley Johnson carried hard, as did Haskell before Jackson fed Daly who carved his way to the line.

Irish were again quick to respond – Williams won the race to Topsy Ojo’s grubber kick – and this time Noakes was on target with the conversion. But Wasps’ replacement fly-half Jimmy Gopperth, who had added a penalty before Williams’ second try, opted to kick for the corner on 70 minutes and it yielded the crucial try, Thomas Young going over at the back of a driving maul before Halai had his second after a fine break from Daly.

The London Irish head coach, Tom Coventry, said: “I do see signs of growth, particularly our defence which I think was marvellous, Wasps had 65% possession but there were times I thought we were pretty valiant in defence.” “I was concerned when we lost our first game and when you lose more it becomes frustrating. The big thing when you’re losing is you lose confidence. A lot of what we’re doing is good but we’re not quite polished enough.”

LONDON IRISH

Ojo; Lewington, Tikoirotuma, Williams (Brophy-Clews 75), Fowlie (F Mulchrone 61); Noakes, Steele (Allinson 65); Court (Smallbone 66), Paice (Ellis 51), Franks (Halavatau 73), Sheriff (Narraway 55), Symons, Trayfoot, Cowan, Treviranus (Sinclair 52)

Tries Williams 2 Con Noakes Pen Noakes

WASPS

Piutau; Tagicakibau, Daly, Jacobs (Macken 71), Halai; Jackson (Gopperth 50), Simpson (Robson 63); Mullan (McIntyre 61), Johnson (Shervington 63), Cooper-Woolley (Cittadini 50), Gaskell (Davies 63), Myall, Haskell (Jones 55), Young, Hughes

Tries Halai 2, Daly, Young Cons Jackson, Gopperth Pens Jackson 2, Gopperth

Twickenham 42,680 Referee Wayne Barnes