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Dai Young's London Wasps hold a commanding four-point lead at the summit of Pool 4 in the Amlin Challenge Cup ahead of the back-to-back clashes with Top 14 side Grenoble. - 05/12/2013 20:48
Dai Young’s London Wasps hold a commanding four-point lead at the summit of Pool 4 in the Amlin Challenge Cup ahead of the back-to-back clashes with Top 14 side Grenoble.
But the English side will face a tough examination of their European qualification hopes this season with this tricky trip to France.
Grenoble lie in a respectable seventh spot in the French top-flight and will arrive in Round 3 of the competition in confident mood following a 25-18 home victory over the might of four-time Heineken Cup champions Toulouse.
In fact, the hosts, who are in third spot and level on five points with Bayonne, have won five of their six home league games this season with Brive the only team to collect any points from the Stade Lesdiguieres in a hard-fought 12-12 draw back in September.
Wasps, who started their Euro campaign with a record-breaking 90-17 win at Viadana in Italy, must also overcome the major blow of losing England wing Christian Wade for the next six months. Wade, 22, damaged ligaments in his left foot during the 19-12 Aviva Premiership win over London Irish last Saturday.
In their previous Amlin encounter against fellow French outfit Bayonne, Andy Goode kicked 16 points for Wasps and head coach Young will hope the fly-half is on song once again as the Londoners seek a third successive pool victory in the first meeting between the sides.
Charlie Hayter scored twice as London Wasps gave another demonstration of their title credentials in the Amlin Challenge Cup. - 07/12/2013 22:16
Charlie Hayter scored twice as London Wasps gave another demonstration of their title credentials in the Amlin Challenge Cup.
Dai Young’s side won their third successive tie to regain top spot in Pool 4 ahead of Bayonne after taking maximum points against Grenoble at the Stade Lesdiguieres.
Centre Hayter crossed twice in the space of 13 minutes in the second half to firstly secure a bonus point and then kill off any lingering hopes of a Grenoble comeback.
Back row Guy Thompson also scored two tries, either side of half-time, after Will Helu got Wasps on track with his fourth score of the campaign. But it was not until Hayter’s long-range interception try that Wasps could finally toast their unbeaten run with Grenbole mounting a fierce comeback sparked by Cedric Beal’s try, converted by former Bath and England fly-half Olly Barkley.
Scrum-half Jack Winter-Moates stepped off the bench to finish a break by Tom Lindsay in style six minutes from time before Josh Bassett completed the rout late on.
There was little sign of the seven-try mauling to come when Joe Simpson missed with both his first two attempts at goal in the opening ten minutes, but Simpson’s break and long pass handed Helu the opener on 13 minutes to fill Wasps with confidence.
Hayter’s break saw Thompson score his first as Wasps led 14-0 at half time before both players added further tries early in the second half.
Grenoble hinted at a comeback at 26-7 but Wasps’ defence held out before the late flurry.
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