A match which we knew would be tight went down to the wire, a scrappy yet fascinating match will scratch the hearts of Wasps fans, but lift the spirits of Baths supporters.
The match took a rapid start, Bath piled on immediate pressure which resulted in Semesa Rokoduguni landing the ball over the Wasps’ try-line. The referee impeded and decided that winger had knocked the ball on, thus disallowing Bath an early five points.
Bath were later penalised after a great run from Wasps’ new signing Charles Piutau, awarding Ruaridh Jackson an easy kick to give the Boys in Black and Gold the lead.
The referee gave Bath a penalty after they were unable to break through a scrum, leaving George Ford to easily kick the ball over the his side. The penalty levelled the scores at eleven minutes.
Soon Wasps conceded their first try of this season’s Champions Cup campaign, after a supposed high tackle on Ruaridh Jackson. Jonathan Joseph picked up the scrambling ball and landed it for vie points, despite a TMO investigation which resulted in the try being deemed legal.
Wasps 3-10 Bath
Elliot Daly scored a screamer of a penalty from halfway, yet his celebrations were cut short by another Bath try. A breakdown in the Wasps’ half led to a Bath attack which saw Matt Banahan run to the left corner and score five points. Ford was unable to score the difficult conversion.
Wasps 6-15 Bath
Daly was given another chance at scoring a long range kick, but his effort drifted wide of the posts.
One of Wasps’ first proper chance to attack the Bath try-line resulted in Nathan Hughes being tackled a few feet short, but the referee was playing advantage from an offence in the scrum. A penalty was awarded and Jackson converted.
Bath looked certain to score when Matawalu had a storming run after collecting a chipped ball, but knocked on the ball just a few metres from Wasps’ try-line, to the delight of the home fans.
Jackson converted another penalty on the forty minute mark after another promising Wasps attack, the Coventry based side had started to get a form of momentum going.
Half-Time: Wasps 12-15 Bath
Wasps’ second half didn’t get off to a good start, they conceded a penalty within the first seven minutes of the restart, leaving Ford with an easy conversion.
A penalty following a breakdown was awarded to Wasps, leaving Jackson to convert another spot-kick. He had brought the deficit back to just three points.
Joe Launchbury produced some great play which resulted in Ben Miller getting a chance at scoring a try, to which he converted. Wasps went ahead, but Jackson missed the penalty and was then replaced with Jimmy Gopperth.
Ford took a kick for Bath from a long distance, but was unable to repeat Daly’s earlier feat.
Daly then missed a kick, the ball drifting wide, possibly due to the horrible, windy conditions.
The end of the match was full of drama, Wasps kept conceding penalties in the final couple minutes and eventually saw Lorenzo Cittadini and George Smith get sin-binned.
Bath kept kicking for the corner and eventually their resilience paid off. They managed to score a try after the eighty minute mark, Anthony Watson was the man who landed the winning try.
To Wasps’ frustration they chucked the match away in the final minutes, but for Bath’s surprise they managed to win the fixture in the final seconds.
Full Time at the Ricoh Arena: Wasps 23 – 25 Bath
