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Ils sont passés à quelques secondes d'une qualification en quart de finale dimanche à Toulon. Elle leur tend encore les bras avec cette réception du Leinster samedi à la Ricoh Arena (16h15). - 20/01/2016 14:59
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young admits he has had to lift his players from their Toulon heartbreak as they go in search of a quarter-final spot.
Young and his Wasps side thought they were already there as Pool 5 winners when they led the European Champions Cup holders after 80 minutes at Stade Felix Mayol last week.
But Drew Mitchell’s injury-time try means Wasps must beat Leinster at the Ricoh Arena to stand a chance of progressing, either as pool winners or a best runner-up.
Young said: “A few of the boys needed picking up after that game [at Toulon] because they were so disappointed. I was heartbroken for them.
“But I was so proud of their efforts and hopefully we can be more determined next weekend as we go for that victory. It may be enough to top the group, it may not, but I’d like to think we’ll go through either way. That was our goal, to advance and we still have a chance to do that.”
Young will be desperate for a similar display to that produced in Round 1 when Joe Simpson, Christian Wade and Charles Piutau all scored in the stunning 33-6 victory over Leinster in Dublin.
He said: “I always thought we would have a decider against Leinster but I don’t think many other people though it would be.
“We have an opportunity to advance out of the pool stages when nobody would have given us a chance but we know it’s going to be difficult. Beating Leinster once is one thing but to beat them twice would be a major step forward. Hopefully we can finish the job.”
Leinster may be out of the competition but showed last week how dangerous they can be with a score to settle and pride at stake.
Sean Cronin scored the winner in a 25-11 success over Bath than ended their worst run in Europe, of six defeats on the bounce, but it was the performance of youngsters such as Garry Ringrose and Rory Malony that most pleased head coach Leo Cullen.
And the three-time champions are desperate to avoid finishing last in their pool for the first time in 21 years of European competition.
Cullen said: “We’re gutted to be out of the competition. We’ve learned a lot of lessons this season about how we manage ourselves. We do that well enough in the first game when we ran into a Wasps side on top of their game.
“it was great to see some of the younger guys come through last week after the work they have done. Now we have to get a good performance against Wasps because there’s a lot at stake for many of our players who want to push on for the Six Nations.”
Match Facts
- Wasps are undefeated when hosting Leinster Rugby in the Champions Cup (W2, D1).
- However, Wasps are in danger of consecutive home losses in the Champions Cup for the first time after a 25-23 loss to Bath in their last home fixture.
- Leinster haven’t won a game away from home in the Champions Cup since October 2014, and haven’t won an away game to an English opponent since December 2013.
- Leinster Rugby have scored just 25 points away from home this campaign, the fewest of any team in Pool 5.
- Charles Piutau has gained the most metres of any player in this season’s Champions Cup (455) and has also made the joint most clean breaks (10).
- Leinster have scored the fewest tries in the competition this season (3) and are yet to score in the 20 minutes either side of half time; Wasps have conceded just one try in that same time.
- The province also have the lowest lineout success in the Champions Cup this season (77%) and have won fewer lineouts per game than any other team (8.2).
- Wasps have gained more metres than any other side this season, averaging 494 metres per game.
- Wasps’ Matt Mullan has made 53/53 tackles in the competition this season, the most of any player yet to miss a hit.
- Meanwhile, only Clermont’s Fritz Lee (23) made more carries than Leinster’s Garry Ringrose (19) in the last round of fixtures.
L'équipe de Coventry a encore humilié le Leinster (46-10) pour s'offrir la première place de la poule 5 grâce au bonus offensif. Elle jouera à domicile son prochain quart de finale. - 23/01/2016 17:56
Wasps hit Leinster with seven tries to secure top spot in the so-called ‘pool of death’ and a vital home quarter-final.
Toulon’s failure to pick up maximum points against Bath allowed Wasps to take advantage with a devastating second half performance against the Irish province.
Dai Young’s men scored seven tries to inflict the heaviest defeat in Europe for three-time winners Leinster, who will be desperate to forget their dismal campaign.
They did ask some early questions of Wasps but the Aviva Premiership side answered them all with an impressive second-half performance at the Ricoh Arena.
Leinster had hit the home side with a try after just two minutes when a good break from Noel Reid ended with Zane Kirchner going over in the corner.
But their lead last less than 10 minutes when former Leinster outside half Jimmy Gopperth went through a big gap in the visitor’s defence to draw the home side level.
Five minutes later Wasps crossed for their second score when George Smith stole the ball from a maul and fed Dan Robson, who tiptoed down the sideline and put Launchbury over.
A yellow card for prop Lorenzo Cittadini for kicking the ball away from a ruck didn’t do Wasps any favours and within a minute Eoin Reddan had crossed for Leinster’s second.
Gopperth added his first penalty before the interval to give the home side a five-point lead at the break.
The second half was all about Wasps as an early penalty from Gopperth and then a stunning solo effort from Eliot Daly quickly put them in command.
A penalty try on 53 minutes wrapped-up the bonus point by Dai Young’s side were in no mood to take their foot off the gas.
Frank ‘The Tank’ Halai got their fifth of the afternoon with a simple finish in the corner after the Leinster defence had been pulled all over the field.
With nine minutes remaining a misunderstanding in the Leinster backline allowed Charles Piutau to scoop up the loose ball and race under the posts from 40 metres.
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Ashley Johnson then got number seven with the final play of the match.
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