A try by London Wasps wing David Lemi 46 seconds from the end of the 2010/11 Pool stages added one final twist in the tail of the quarter-final qualification process as reigning champions Toulouse were denied a home tie in the last eight.

Samoan flyer Lemi latched on to Joe Simpson’s neat grub kick into the French 22 and outpaced replacement scrum half Nicolas Vergallo to the touchdown. Up until then the game looked to be heading for a draw, but that try allowed Wasps to extend their unbeaten home run in the Heineken Cup to 15 games and ended Toulouse’ 11 game wining streak in the tournament.

Defeat also meant the difference between a home draw against Toulon and an away quarter-final against Biarritz Olympique for Toulouse in what will be a re-run of the 2010 Heineken Cup final in Paris.

As for Wasps, their gallant effort came shortly after they had seen Perpignan and Leicester Tigers bag the final two quarter-final spots in the Heineken Cup, but they still maintained their unbeaten record against Toulouse on English soil to become the top ranked team from the Heineken Cup to move into the Amlin Challenge Cup.

That meant a short trip across London to face Harlequins, with the winners going on to face either Brive of Munster away from home in the semi-finals.

Things didn’t start well when weak tackling let Yannick Jauzion canter over for a try in the 10th minute, but that bright opening flattered to deceive. The French temperament came into play and the yellow card to No 8 Louis Picamoles cost his side 10 points just before the break and then centre Florian Fritz picked up a red card for a spear tackle seven minutes after the break.
Dave Walder kicked Wasps first points and then provided the inside pass to super-sub Richard Haughton for a try at the posts less than a minute after Picamoles’ departure. Walder added the conversion and then added a penalty to make it 13-7 at half-time.

The home outside half then punished Fritz for his dangerous tackle on Tom Varndell by adding a second penalty to stretch the lead to nine points. But having built up a handy lead, Wasps then allowed Toulouse to creep back into the game with a series of silly penalties.

David Skrela took his three opportunities to level the scores on 64 minutes and it was 14 v 14 for 10 minutes in the final quarter when Serge Betsen picked up a yellow card for diving into a ruck.

The draw would have been good enough to give the champions a home win, but that Lemi try not only ended their run of 11 straight Heineken Cup wins, but also made it 15 in a row for Wasps at Adams Park in the tournament.

“It was important we responded after last week and it was a huge team effort. We are still gutted at not being able to go through into the last eight in the Heineken Cup, but at least we can move forward for the rest of the season after this victory,” admitted Wasps’ man of the match Simon Shaw.