Wasps Enjoy Newbury's Hospitality

Looking on
By Barney Burnham
August 21 2005

Wasps continued their pre-season programme with a 59-12 win over National League One newcomers Newbury. On a sunny but windy afternoon, the Premiership champions scored nine tries in all, including two for Joe Mbu - his first for the club.

 

The home side dominated the opening exchanges, both in terms of territory and possession, with former Otago flyhalf Blair Feeney displaying some neat kicking skills.

It wasn't until the ninth minute that Wasps mounted their first serious attack, begun by a powerful burst by Ben Gotting. A minute later, the hooker was again prominent, in a move which took play into the Newbury 22. A penalty enabled the hosts to relieve the pressure, but the long kick failed to find touch and Thom Evans launched a counterattack, which was only ended by an accidental offside deep inside Newbury territory. Almost immediately, the winger had another chance to show his counter-attacking skills, from another Newbury clearance. The movement was carried on by Mark Van Gisbergen and Jonny O'Connor, before Stuart Abbot just failed to hang on to a sharp pass.

With Wasps now finding some attacking fluency, it was a surprise when Newbury opened the scoring after 15 minutes.

They won a lineout on the Wasps 22 and moved the ball quickly through the backs, to release left wing Ed Hoadley (Rob's brother, who made a number of appearances for Wasps A last season). He made 20 metres before being tackled , but not held, just short of the line, and managed to get back to his feet to cross near the posts. Feeney converted to make it 7-0.

As had happened in the Exeter game, two weeks earlier, Wasps were stung into action. They responded with four tries in 10 minutes. The first came on 18 minutes, from lineout ball near the corner. A forward drive saw Jonny O'Connor touch down beneath a pile of bodies. Van Gisbergen was off target with the conversion, but made no mistake a minute later, after a typically explosive burst by Ayoola Erinle was stopped just short of the line. The ball was recycled quickly and Alex King sent Richard Birkett over near the posts.

Two minutes after that, Newbury appeared to have an overlap down the right wing, but a crunching tackle by Abbott saw them spill the ball. Rob Hoadley flyhacked to the other end of the field and came within a whisker of adding a third try. That came three minutes later, when Joe Worsley broke from a scrum in the Newbury 22, to send skipper John Hart over near the posts. Van Gisbergen added the extra points, to make it 19-7.

Hoadley was now clearly limping and was replaced by Joe Mbu. Wasps immediately added try number four, when King jinked his way through, to touch down beneath the posts, Van Gisbergen again landing the simple conversion.

A fifth try followed from good lineout ball and crisp handling in the backs, with Abbott's half-break and beautifully timed pass sending Van Gisbergen over. His fourth successul conversion made it 33-7. A snaking run then nearly brought a try for Abbott, before the half ended with Erinle crossing in injury time. Van Gisbergen's conversion made the halftime score 40-7.

A number of substitutions saw (among others) Fraser Waters starting the second half, with former French captain Raphael Ibanez making his Wasps debut.

Nine minutes into the half, two other substitutes were instrumental in setting up the next Wasps score. George Skivington's charging run took play deep into the 22. He fed Jeremy Staunton, who sent Mbu crashing over. Staunton, who'd come on for Van Gisbergen, converted.

It was Staunton's jinking run which set up Mbu's second, 14 minutes later. This time, the Irish international couldn't add the extra points.

With eight minutes to go, Ali Mckenzie scored the sort of try that would have had him expelled from the front row union, back in the good old days. He picked up just outside the 22, and showed a combination of power and pace to charge through the Newbury defence and crash over for what turned out to be the final Wasps try of the day. The strong wind did its best to stop Staunton's conversion going over, but it just had the legs to drop over and take the score to 59-7.

Newbury's just reward for a spirited effort came with just over five minutes left, when a Wasps movement broke down near halfway winger Kenny Bingham hacked through to win the race for the touchdown. Feeney's conversion went wide, and when referee Chris White ended the game over a minute before the end of normal time, the final score stood at 59-12 to Wasps.

Forwards coach Craig Dowd, in charge for the day, said he was happier than he had been after the Exeter game. "They did what they were asked to do. Some of the contact area was much better today. I was much happier with the scrum, but I was disappointed with our restarts - something we need to work on. Credit to Newbury, though. They were up for a game and they gave us a good challenge, which is just what we wanted."

He also revealed that new prop Peter Bracken was nursing an ankle injury, but should be fit to make his debut against the Ospreys on Friday night.

All the Wasps supporters who'd made the trip to Newbury agreed that they'd been made very welcome at a fine example of an old-fashioned rugby club. Here's wishing the Blues and their supporters all the best in their first season in National League One.