Newbury 24 Wasps 29 - Pre-Season Off to Good Start

FAIR START
By Barney Burnham
August 6 2006

Wasps were made to fight all the way in their opening pre-season game against National League One Side Newbury, with an injury time try by Ali McKenzie clinching a narrow win against opponents who’d shown ambition, endeavour, and no little skill.

 

The opening exchanges bore all the hallmarks of a pre-season friendly, with both sides guilty of a series of handling errors. In no time at all, the penalty count against Wasps was familiarly high. Despite the rather frantic nature of the play, there was no shortage of commitment, and an early clash between Daniel Leo and a Newbury forward led referee Chris White to reverse a penalty originally given to Wasps. The home side had several minutes of pressure, before a huge clearance kick by Danny Cipriani took things back over halfway.

A minute later, Newbury seemed certain to open the score with an attack down the left-hand touchline, but full-back David Doherty pulled off a superb last-ditch tackle before gathering the loose ball to launch a counter-attack. Fraser Waters took play up to the Newbury 22, before putting in a chip ahead which Cipriani could not quite gather.

Newbury almost went ahead when they took a quick penalty near their own line. They moved the ball out wide to create space down the left and scrum-half Chow Mezger was stopped just short of the line, after a thrilling move. Wasps then came close to scoring, just short of the half-hour. Martin Purdy won a lineout just outside the Newbury 22, and a powerful drive took play towards the line. Leo, Ward and Cipriani all featured in the move, before the ball went out to Neil Baxter, who was forced into touch at the corner.

It was Newbury who opened the scoring, after then another attack from deep inside their territory ended with fullback Mal Roberts going over near the corner, for a well-deserved try. Flyhalf Tim Walsh added the extra points.

As had happened in last season’s friendly at Monks Lane, Wasps were stung into action, and they responded almost immediately, after Cipriani spotted space out on the right. He sent Joe Ward away, and the hooker was able to feed Baxter, who’d come inside him to go over for a well-crafted score, which Cipriani converted.

The last few minutes of the half belonged to Wasps, and a series of attacks, in which Cipriani was prominent, stretched the Newbury defence to the limit. Mark Odejobi, Leo, Ward and Purdy were all stopped on the line. Try as they might, they couldn’t add to their one score and it was 7-7 at the interval.

A long-range Walsh penalty put Newbury back in front, three minutes after the break. They then seemed odds on to score a second try, but a magnificent cover tackle by Dave Walder, who’d replaced Cipriani, denied them, after slick passing had created a huge hole in the Wasps midfield.

It was Wasps who scored next, after a powerful burst by the impressive Leo, who made 30 metres up the middle, before finding Simon Amor in support. The scrum-half was stopped just short of the line, but found Hoadley in support and the centre went over to put Wasps back in front. Walder’s conversion was just wide.

At this point, you might have expected Newbury to cave in, but they did not. In fact, they soon found themselves back in front, after a quick penalty just inside the Wasps half gave Walsh the chance to go round the defence and sprint 30 metres to the line. He converted his own try, to make it 17-12.

Ten minutes later, Wasps were level, from a move launched near the left-hand corner. James Honeyben, on as a replacement winger, came into the line, Waters was stopped just short and Walder’s quick pass sent Baxter in for his second score of the afternoon, out in the corner. This time, Walder’s well-struck conversion hit the right-hand post.

With the scores at 17-17 and ten minutes to go, it was now anyone’s game. With just six minutes left, Newbury seemed to have snatched a thrilling win after lock Gregor Hayter gathered a weak clearance just outside the Wasps 22 and showed surprising pace to charge over in the corner. Walsh made it 24-17, with a magnificent touchline conversion.

It was now that Wasps showed their typical never-say-die spirit. First, Walder’s pass sent Doherty in at the corner, to make it 24-22. Again the fly-half’s kick was agonisingly wide of the target, but the visitors were not to be denied. They kept the ball alive through several phases, and Walder and Matt Corker combined to send McKenzie crashing over for the dramatic injury-time winner. Cipriani, back on for Hoadley, showed admirable coolness to land the conversion, after a Newbury charge was ruled illegal.

There was still time for the home side to mount a series of late attacks, but they were kept out by stout defence.

Director of Rugby Ian McGeechan was pleased to finally get a match under his belt. “You can’t beat match practice, and match situations. With a mixture of youngsters, new players and long-term injured players returning, it was important to get them out there. Newbury gave our full squad a good game last year, so we knew they’d be good opposition. We can pick out some things to work on. Some of our driving, rucking play was good. We showed we can score some good tries, but we were a bit rusty and we’ve now got three weeks to work on that.”

Shaun Edwards echoed McGeechan’s views: “Rusty, to say the least. Particularly in defence, but some things went well, In training, we’ve been working at creating more turnovers. Our last two tries came after we’d won turnovers, so that work won us the game.”

There were many plusses for Wasps fans. John Hart, Martin Purdy and Fraser Waters all played for the whole game, and looked to be in good shape. Poignantly, the match programme listed Stuart Abbott in the Wasps squad. If only!

The downside was the sight of Tom Rees limping round the field on crutches, with his left ankle heavily strapped. He’d suffered another freak injury, when a team-mate fell on him during the pre-match warm-up. It’s not yet known whether the injury is serious. How much bad luck can one player have?

For those of a sensitive disposition, the sight of Neil Baxter’s latest hairstyle was a shock to the system. A cross between a would-be Mohican and a circular saw embedded in his skull. Extraordinary.

The next warm-up match takes place on Sunday the 20^th, at Henley. Wasps A play Blackheath, while the first team take on old European adversaries Calvisano. If the entertainment matches that on display this afternoon, it will be five pounds well spent.

Starting XV
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15 David Doherty; 14 Neil Baxter, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Rob Hoadley, 11 Mark Odejobi; 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Simon Amor, 1 Ali McKenzie, 2 Joe Ward, 3 Nick Adams, 4 Martin Purdy, 5 Richard Birkett, 6 Daniel Leo, 7 James Haskell, 8 John Hart (Capt.)

Replacements (as many as I could note!): Dave Walder, Tom French, Jonny Barrett, Matt Corker, Jon-Paul Filler, Rob Webber, Hugo Ellis, James Honeyben, Mark McMillan