Wasps 37 London Irish 56

WASPS' season could be over in 80 minutes after they suffered their worst defeat in Guinness Premiership history on Sunday evening.

A rampant London Irish side ran in nine tries to leaves Wasps reeling and facing a real battle to hang on to fourth place, the final play-off position.

After three straight defeats and four in five in the league they must now go to fifth-placed Gloucester on Saturday and win.

Wasps have invited this anxiety with a downturn as dramatic as it has been unexpected.

Three weeks ago they were tucking one trophy away and clearing their minds for the Premiership run-in. They had the pedigree and their record for coming up on the rails made ominous reading for their rivals.

But after losing to Saracens, Wasps were bumped out of second by Leicester and then, in a fantastic game that was one score away from 100 points, they allowed themselves to be leap-frogged by Irish.

Now, if they make it to the play-offs, they will be the team the other three want to play.

Director of Rugby Ian McGeechan said: "It's there for us to do now.

"If you looked at the results, you'd say we'd lost focus since the Powergen Cup Final.

"I don't think we have, but we haven't played well in the last 15 minutes. That's damaged us. When we've pushed ourselves to be good, we've not played clever rugby."

This was Wasps' first defeat at the Causeway Stadium for 20 matches, but, despite scoring five tries themselves, they can have few complaints.

For the second week in a row a try inside the opening minute knocked Wasps sideways before they had a chance to settle.

It was 63 seconds at Leicester, on Sunday Wasps were trailing after just 35 seconds as Dominic Feau'nati broke Ayoola Erinle's tackle to go over.

But within two minutes Tom Voyce had instigated a counter-attack that Erinle finished off, and although Mark van Gisbergen missed the conversion, Wasps went in front after six minutes when Voyce went over himself after Wasps had driven forward after retaining good line-out possession.

Van Gisbergen's successful conversion made it 12-5 and normal service appeared to have been resumed.

Not so. Although Jeremy Staunton wrong-footed three Irish defenders to dot down between the posts after 12 minutes, van Gisbergen's conversion taking Wasps to 19 points, the try was buried beneath an avalanche of Irish tries as, for 20 minutes, they literally did score from every attack.

Topsy Ojo won a sprint with van Gisbergen to gather Delon Armitage's chip after eight minutes, Riki Flutey profited when Simon Shaw lost the ball in the tackle just past the quarter hour, Sailosi Tagicakibau went over in the 20th minute and the devastating burst was completed after 28 minutes, Bob Casey diving over from a metre to make it 29-19.

Showing commendable resolve, Wasps hit back with a van Gisbergen penalty and a second Voyce try to level the game moments before the interval Moments after it they went in front when Voyce scored his third try, and the tenth of the match.

It gave Wasps a 34-29 lead, but this extraordinary match was far from over and within seconds Irish were back in front, Mike Catt converting his own try after 43 minutes.

McGeechan introduced Joe Worsley and Josh Lewsey after 48 minutes, but the England pair were spectators to the next score, Armitage intercepting Staunton's pass to run through unopposed.

Catt added the conversion and with van Gisbergen and Ojo trading penalties in the final 15 minutes, Irish retained a 46-37 lead as the game entered its latter stages.

But, as they had been in their two previous defeats, Wasps were a spent force before the end.

Ben Willis and Flutey both breached the home defence before the final whistle to complete a humiliating afternoon for the defending champions.

Coach Shaun Edwards said: "It's very concerning. We've never had nine tries scored against us before.

"Eight were from turnovers, which has been our Achilles heel all season."

What the game also did was confirm London Irish as genuine title hopefuls.

Directory of Rugby Brian Smith said: "We've stayed behind the covers for as long as we can. We can't hide behind the underdogs tag anymore.

"That was the best performance I've been involved in, as a player or a coach. I say that because of the calibre of the opposition."

Wasps: van Gisbergen, Sackey (Lewsey, 48 mins), Erinle, Abbott (Waters, 79 mins), Voyce, Staunton, Reddan, Payne, Ibanez (Ward, ht), Bracken (Va'a, 51 mins), Shaw, Birkett, Leo (Haskell, 68 mins), Lock (Worsley, 48 mins), Dallaglio.

Scorers: Tries Voyce (three), Erinle, Staunton. Cons: van Gisbergen (three). Pens: van Gisbergen (two) Referee: Tony Spreadbury Attendence: 10,000