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| Wasps consign nightmare period to history to rejoin Europe’s 20 elite | Wasps consign nightmare period to history to rejoin Europe’s 20 elite |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Less than two seasons after warding off the twin threats of relegation and even bankruptcy, Wasps are back among Europe’s 20 elite clubs after surprising another sleeping giant, Stade Français, on Saturday to qualify for the new European Rugby Champions Cup. | Less than two seasons after warding off the twin threats of relegation and even bankruptcy, Wasps are back among Europe’s 20 elite clubs after surprising another sleeping giant, Stade Français, on Saturday to qualify for the new European Rugby Champions Cup. |
| The team that were England’s last winners of the Heineken Cup beat the French side who twice got to the final, scoring the only tries to reach the new competition as winners of the one-off play-offs between the seventh-placed clubs in the Premiership and the Top 14. Next season it will be a four-way play-off, with two clubs from the Pro12 joining. | The team that were England’s last winners of the Heineken Cup beat the French side who twice got to the final, scoring the only tries to reach the new competition as winners of the one-off play-offs between the seventh-placed clubs in the Premiership and the Top 14. Next season it will be a four-way play-off, with two clubs from the Pro12 joining. |
| Not that it mattered in Paris on Saturday night as Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, welcomed not just a surprise result but probably one of Wasps better performances. “It was probably the first time we have played for the full 80 minutes,” he said. “We did very little wrong throughout the game and I certainly felt like we wanted it more than them today.” | Not that it mattered in Paris on Saturday night as Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, welcomed not just a surprise result but probably one of Wasps better performances. “It was probably the first time we have played for the full 80 minutes,” he said. “We did very little wrong throughout the game and I certainly felt like we wanted it more than them today.” |
| It was a far cry from Young’s reaction six days earlier when only a late penalty from the fly-half Andy Goode spared Wasps the embarrassment of losing to a side who got to the top of the French league on home performances but have a history of travelling badly. | It was a far cry from Young’s reaction six days earlier when only a late penalty from the fly-half Andy Goode spared Wasps the embarrassment of losing to a side who got to the top of the French league on home performances but have a history of travelling badly. |
| Then Young bemoaned the errors which he reckoned had cost three of the four tries scored by the Parisian team. On Saturday it was a very different tale, with Wasps’ discipline winning out against a side who later admitted they had been overconfident. According to the former France captain Pascal Papé: “Wasps had more desire. The defeat by a point in London was perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to us.” | Then Young bemoaned the errors which he reckoned had cost three of the four tries scored by the Parisian team. On Saturday it was a very different tale, with Wasps’ discipline winning out against a side who later admitted they had been overconfident. According to the former France captain Pascal Papé: “Wasps had more desire. The defeat by a point in London was perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to us.” |
| In fact Saturday was more an echo of the era when French clubs regularly shot themselves in the foot. Three Stade forwards were shown yellow cards, undermining the decision to play a big pack and dominate up front. | In fact Saturday was more an echo of the era when French clubs regularly shot themselves in the foot. Three Stade forwards were shown yellow cards, undermining the decision to play a big pack and dominate up front. |
| Instead it was the speed of the Wasps backs, the try-scorer Tom Varndell and Joe Simpson in particular, which caused something akin to panic in Parisian ranks while the back row of Ashley Johnson, James Haskell, a man who still believes he should be on the England flight to New Zealand next month and Guy Thompson set the tone and applied the killer blow. | Instead it was the speed of the Wasps backs, the try-scorer Tom Varndell and Joe Simpson in particular, which caused something akin to panic in Parisian ranks while the back row of Ashley Johnson, James Haskell, a man who still believes he should be on the England flight to New Zealand next month and Guy Thompson set the tone and applied the killer blow. |
| Thompson, a 27-year-old who was playing for Jersey last season and , who got the No8 shirt only because Nathan Hughes could not delay his wedding any longer, signed an extension to his contract last week and repaid Wasps by rounding off a move which was everything Stade could not manage as they fumbled their way through only their third defeat at Stade Jean-Bouin this season. | Thompson, a 27-year-old who was playing for Jersey last season and , who got the No8 shirt only because Nathan Hughes could not delay his wedding any longer, signed an extension to his contract last week and repaid Wasps by rounding off a move which was everything Stade could not manage as they fumbled their way through only their third defeat at Stade Jean-Bouin this season. |
| As Haskell said: “This marks the end of the recovery and transition phase. It’s the start of doing ourselves justice. We can’t harp on about what used to happen at Wasps [Heineken Cups in 2004 and 2007 along with four league titles in six years]. I think I’m the last guy left of that team.” | |
| Stade Français Bonneval (Steyn, 74); Arias, Vuidrauwalu, Danty, Ioane (Bosman, 29); Plisson, Fillol (Dupuy, 49); Van der Merwe (Tolafau, 61), Sempéré (Van Vuuren, 71), Kubriashvili (Slimani, 43), Flanquart (Van Zyl, 68) , Papé, Burban, Lavalla (Lyons, 49), Parisse (capt). | Stade Français Bonneval (Steyn, 74); Arias, Vuidrauwalu, Danty, Ioane (Bosman, 29); Plisson, Fillol (Dupuy, 49); Van der Merwe (Tolafau, 61), Sempéré (Van Vuuren, 71), Kubriashvili (Slimani, 43), Flanquart (Van Zyl, 68) , Papé, Burban, Lavalla (Lyons, 49), Parisse (capt). |
| Pens Plisson 2. Sin-bin Flanquart 28, Burban 53, Van Vuuren 75. | Pens Plisson 2. Sin-bin Flanquart 28, Burban 53, Van Vuuren 75. |
| Wasps Masi; Helu, Daly, Bell (capt), Varndell; Goode (Carlisle, 79), Simpson; Mullan (McIntyre, 75), Festuccia (Lindsay, 73), Swaintston, Launchbury, Palmer (Myall, 71), Johnson (Jackson, 73), Haskell, Thompson (Hayter, 77). | Wasps Masi; Helu, Daly, Bell (capt), Varndell; Goode (Carlisle, 79), Simpson; Mullan (McIntyre, 75), Festuccia (Lindsay, 73), Swaintston, Launchbury, Palmer (Myall, 71), Johnson (Jackson, 73), Haskell, Thompson (Hayter, 77). |
| Tries Varndell, Thompson. Cons Goode 2. Pens Goode 2. Sin-bin Haskell 29. | Tries Varndell, Thompson. Cons Goode 2. Pens Goode 2. Sin-bin Haskell 29. |
| Referee Nigel Owens (Wal). Attendance 12,600. |