AS a group Wasps will be delighted that they made it eight wins in nine on Sunday, but their 22-15 victory over London Irish will be no less significant for some of the individuals involved.

The LV=Cup has evolved into a sort of finishing school for clubs, almost taking the place of the A League.

But the competition hasn’t been good viewing for the black and golds in recent years, with a threadbare squad often horribly exposed.

They had won just two of their previous 14 games in the competition and director of rugby Dai Young has not always been best pleased with the application of the players.

However, perhaps chastened by a few stark warnings from Young, the Wasps players that were given a chance at the weekend took it with both hands.

Defence coach Brad Davis said: “The challenge for this group of players that were representing the club was to maintain the momentum and that puts us eight from nine in all competitions.

“But at the same time a lot of those guys haven’t had a lot of opportunities so it was an opportunity to show us as coaching staff what they could deliver and I think to a man they did that.”

At full strength, Wasps have been able to compete with most teams in England in the past few years. The problems come when injuries strike.

Davis said: “We want to be a top six team but to stay in that group we need to show that we’re a top six squad. You look at all those teams in the top four or six – they’ve got squads that they can rotate so they can keep getting the best performances.

“This was an opportunity for our group of players to say that they want to stake a claim for a place in the starting XV in the Premiership.

“A few guys put their hands up.

“You look at that London Irish team and they had some pretty big names in there. We knew it was going to be a test for us but we’re delighted with the character.