Wasps stretch winning streak to five matches

Wasps followed up on last week’s victory over Saracens by beating Bath 18-24 at the Recreation Ground.

The victory is Wasps fifth in a row and this is the first time in three years that Wasps have as many matches in succession.

The result moves Wasps up to third in the Aviva Premiership standings and they are level on 37 points with Harlequins.

A dominant performance from Wasps was backed up by two tries from Frank Halai and another from Simon McIntyre.

A last minute try from Amanaki Mafi secured a losing bonus-point for the hosts, with Tom Homer also touching down earlier on in the half.

Wasps centre Elliot Daly opened the scoring after five minutes, driving his kick through the wind and rain from 40 metres.

Ruaridh Jackson and Daly both missed attempts at the posts before a strong run from full-back Charles Piutau was finished off by Halai, who pushed himself through two defenders to touch down. Jackson failed to convert.

In the final ten minutes of the first half, Rhys Priestland scored six points for Bath from the tee, taking the sides in at half-time with the score at 6-8.

With 48 minutes on the clock, Daly chipped the ball over the Bath defence, and as Homer failed to nudge the ball in to touch, it bobbled along the sideline before Halai pounced on it to score his second try of the game. Jackson failed to convert again.

Bath finally got themselves on the front foot, before Wasps went against the run of play to score their third try of the match through loosehead prop McIntyre. Jimmy Gopperth failed to add the extras.

As Bath looked to get a try of their own, Matt Banahan found the gap in the Wasps defence as he tapped the ball through for Homer to run on to. The full-back converted his own try well, with Priestland seemingly injured and off kicking duty.

Gopperth then secured himself some points from the tee, before Bath’s Mafi got over the line with the final play of the game after a strong driving maul, to secure a losing bonus point for Bath as their miserable home form continued.

Former Australia international George Smith was named man of the match.

Final Score Bath 18 (6) Wasps 24 (8)

Scorers

Bath
Tries – Homer, Mafi
Pen – Priestland (2)
Con – Homer
Drop –

Wasps
Tries – Halai (2), McIntyre
Pen – Daly, Jackson, Gopperth
Con –
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee :Tom Foley (14th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Greg MacDonald & Nigel Carrick.
TMO: Graham Hughes

Teams

Bath

15. Tom Homer , 14. Semesa Rokoduguni , 13. Matt Banahan , 12. Ollie Devoto , 11. Horacio Agulla , 10. Rhys Priestland , 9. Chris Cook , 1. Max Lahiff , 2. Rob Webber , 3. David Wilson , 4. Charlie Ewels , 5. Dominic Day , 6. Leroy Houston , 7. Francois Louw ( c ) , 8. Amanaki Mafi

Replacements : 16. Ross Batty , 17. Beno Obano , 18. Henry Thomas , 19. Matt Garvey , 20. Guy Mercer , 21. Jonathan Evans , 22. Jeff Williams , 2

Wasps

15. Charles Piutau , 14. Christian Wade , 13. Elliot Daly , 12. Siale Piutau , 11. Frank Halai , 10. Ruaridh Jackson , 9. Dan Robson , 8. Nathan Hughes , 7. George Smith (c), 6. Thomas Young , 5. Kearnan Myall , 4. Bradley Davies, 3. Jake Cooper-Woolley , 2. Ashley Johnson, 1. Simon McIntyre

Replacments : 16. Carlo Festuccia , 17. Tom Bristow , 18. Lorenzo Cittadini , 19. James Cannon , 20. Alex Rieder , 21. Jamie Stevenson , 22. Jimmy Gopperth , 23. Rob Miller