J.P Morgan 7s Review
It was a tough night results wise for Wasps down at the Stoop but a host of young players picked up valuable experience on the big stage.
Game 1 - London Wasps 12 Saracens 19
Wasps took an early lead having dominated possession for the opening few minutes of the match. Some neat footwork from Jonah Holmes and a good burst from captain Chris Mayor freed up space for Oxford's Derek Asbun for a 5-0 lead.
Saracens hit back with a fine score from the experienced James Short whose quick feet saw him racce away under the posts and help his side to a 7-5 lead.
Wasps were then down to 6 players when Sean Morris was binned for foul play and Saracens worked the overlap well when George Kruis crashed over, and so Wasps trailed 14-5 at the break.
With the player advantage Saracens scored in the corner right from the kick off in the corner to stretch their lead to 19-5.
Restored to 7 players Wasps were a much better side and after patient build-up Chris Mayor scored under the posts with the conversion from Jack Wallace making it 12-19 with just under two minutes to go. But despite a good effort from Wasps to grab an equaliser, Saracens held out for the win.
Game 2 London Wasps 7 London Irish 46
Wasps had just five minutes turnaround before the second game against a very experienced looking London Irish side. That experience and additional physicality told early with scores for Sailosi Tagicakibau and Shane Geraghty after just three minutes as Irish raced to a10-0 lead.
Alex Gray made it 15-0 as Wasps struggled to cope with the faster brand of rugby being played.
Irish added another with Chris Hala'ufia picking up a loose ball and crashing over. Sam Jones almost took the first score for Wasps after a fine break but he was just caught short with the first half ending 22-0.
Wasps rang the changes in the second half giving a host of younger players a chance of action. Further tries for Tom Homer, Conor Gaston and Shane Geraghty made it a staight forward win for Irish in the end however. Wasps did end with a try though with a break from Holmes and an offload to Morris seeing them pick up a consolation score.
Game 3 London Wasps 0 Harlequins 35
Both sides were out by the time the final game came around but Quins seemed determined to end their day on a high in front of their home fans and put in a dominant performance.
Jonah Holmes made the first real break of the game and was almost through for the first score but a turnover just five metres out saw the ball spill loose and Will Skinner was on hand to run the length to score for Quins who took a 7-0 lead.
Sam Jones continued to put some strong tackles in, as he had done all night, and he was part of a sweeping move which really should have brought the first try for Wasps but for a sloppy pass picked up by Quins who scored through Ollie Lindsay-Hague to make it 14-0 at the half.
Luke Wallace scored right after the break to extend the lead. Liam O'Neill impressed in the closing stages as did youngster Jono Woodward who never hid from a big tackle but Harlequins wrapped it up with two tries from Miles Mantella
London Wasps Squad
1. Sam Jones
2. Matt Everard
3. Derek Asbun
4. Jonah Holmes
5. Jack Wallace
6. Chris Mayor
7. Sean Morris
8. Danny Wells
9. Liam O’Neill
10. Will Robinson
11. Mitchell Tamiau
12. Jono Woodward
Images thanks to onEdition
