Weakened Wasps hammered in LV Cup sign off
4:37pm Saturday 4th February 2012 in Wasps By Alan Feldberg
NORTHAMPTON 57, WASPS 10.
THIS was a game Wasps would have loved to fast forward through.
With a raft of first teamers still being held back for Saracens next week, they were always onto a loser against a Northampton side chasing the LV Cup semi-finals, and so it proved as the hosts wracked up more than a half-century of points.
Within minutes of the kick off the pattern of the match had been set, with Saints zipping through the phases, crushing Wasps up front and generally doing whatever they pleased whenever they pleased.
They scored three tries before the break and five more after it and with a bit more composure could have doubled that tally.
For Wasps, apart from an encouraging debut for No8 Victor Gresev and a superb solo try from Joe Simpson, the only positive is that the game is now out of the way.
Nick Robinson also got a run out at the end and Gresev's international captain Vladislav Korshunov also came on in the second half for his debut.
Other than that, it was slim pickings for the travelling Wasps fans.
The black and golds got to 15 minutes just 3-0 down and it would have been 3-3 had Will Robinson landed a touchline penalty that came after a lively attack, but in truth the black and golds had spent almost all of their time fire-fighting inside their own 22.
Their scrum had already been obliterated twice and they'd already made enough try-saving tackles on, or nearly on, their own try line to prove willing.
Unfortunately, willing isn't enough against this Northampton side and so dominant had the Saints been that when Andy Long did crash over after 16 minutes it had coming for the previous 13.
Only desperate defending had delayed them but once the seal was broken that was it and James Craig's quick thinking resulted in try number two just minutes later .
Jamie Elliot touched down the third two minutes before the interval after a comedy of errors in defence and if wasn't for Robinson's 36th minute penalty Wasps would have been nilled in the first 40.
22-3 at half time didn't make much better reading, and that became 29-3 when Saints were awarded a penalty try after 48 minutes after their pack had rumbled over the Wasps with ease.
By then replacement hooker Simon McIntryre had already been yellow-carded, and the green tide just kept coming.
Noah Cato added a fifth try with 15 minutes left, Elliot went over for number six four minutes later and Alex Waller and then Cato again rubbed in the humiliation at the death to drown out Simpson's scorching finish from 30m.
click2find
