Superhuman Wasps pull off greatest comeback against London Irish
London Irish 36 Wasps 39
Stephen Jones, Rugby Correspondent
Sunday June 06 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
It is very early in its existence for the Brentford Community Stadium to be staging epics, but we had one anyway. It was for me the greatest Premiership match ever played, a tribute to two outstanding teams and to the passion and pride of the modern-day professional player.
At half-time the stadium was almost thundering with support and goodwill, the 4,000 present were quite unbelievably loud. By then London Irish had built a 33-10 lead. A devastating opening passage of play brought them two tries, then they scored two more to have the bonus point and, surely, the match in the bag.
In this period London Irish looked like a potential Gallagher Premiership giant. Curtis Rona in midfield and a passionate and driving forward effort helped to create the tries. The Australian Rona scored twice and Ollie Hassell-Collins once, and Wasps were battered and a little forlorn even after Josh Bassett had scored what seemed to be a consolation try.
At the interval Wasps were facing oblivion, and they knew it. Their squad has been ravaged by injury all season, they continued to lose players throughout the game and they were mightily outplayed for so long by the best London Irish team to have been fielded by the grand old club.
But from somewhere deep down in the psyche, Wasps rose up gloriously. Dan Robson began to conjure, Will Rowlands and James Gaskell started playing as if superhuman. Above all Tom Willis — thus far in his career most notable for being the brother of Jack — suddenly reached a class of his own and scored a hat-trick of tries.
As Wasps launched a glorious series of attacks, Willis showed a turn of foot in burning up the Irish defence. Wasps simply kept on coming, amid extraordinary scenes. They pulled off a clever no-lift lineout for a Willis try, and Marcus Watson, finally back from injury, went over down the right after Jeff Toomaga-Allen had forced an exquisite pass as Jacob Umaga came round on the overlap to put his wing man over. When Willis scored his second it was suddenly 33-25 and even though the noise level of the crowd was still high, you sensed that alarm bells were also being rung.
It would have been closer had Umaga not missed three conversions. By now London Irish had drawn in their horns, eagerly accepting three points for a penalty to take them 11 into the lead. For a few minutes that seemed to sap Wasps.
But the dip was only temporary. Wasps scored another magnificent try from deep, with Tom Cruse handing on the ball to Bassett and the sport’s most underrated wing cut the cover defence to pieces. Now it was 36-32.
By now, with interruptions for injury and exhaustion, and for dramatic television match official viewings, we were almost at sundown, but still at a peak of excitement.
At first, London Irish tried to defend their lead by reverting to the driving lineout but somehow Wasps held on. And then with priceless attacking positions, Wasps went for one of the most unlikely kills in their history.
They started with some menacing rolling mauls that Irish defended superbly, but when they moved the ball wide Watson dived heroically through the corner for the tackles, and grounded the ball. After a heart-stopping period of time the officials ruled that his toe, probably his little toe, had been grounded into touch just before he made the tryline.
By now it was just a case of heroism in oxygen debt. Wasps managed to regroup around Jimmy Gopperth with one play remaining and the clock long dead. They drove on with fanaticism, they were stopped on the left and the right and then the right again.
Finally, the gigantic Willis spotted a tiny gap, drove hard and grounded the ball in the tackle. Cue another agonising wait, but the TMO said that he had no evidence to overrule the call on the field. It was a try for Wasps, devastation for Irish, and a wonderful victory for the crazy old sport itself.
We also had a fantastic series of collisions in the second half as the two Pacific giants, Albert Tuisue of London Irish and Sione Vailanu of Wasps, became the spearheads for their teams.
There is no question that Irish are on their way, and no question that their home will be a success. The stadium is so tight that anyone taking off near the line for a triumphant dive may well find themselves in the crowd. But Irish are going to be dangerous if they keep up this momentum and maintain it until the end of the campaign.
And Wasps? Since Christmas their fight in adversity has been astonishing. They probably need at least four Premiership-ready signings for next season if they are to be near the top. On the other hand, if whoever they field shows the spirit Wasps showed here you can play the groundsman and they will still be up there.
Scorers: London Irish: Tries: Rona 2 (3min, 20), Hassel-Collins (5), Tuisue 2 (35, 40) Cons: Jackson 4 Pens: Jackson (60).
Wasps: Tries: Bassett 2 (30, 66), Willis 3 (43, 57, 80), Watson (47) Cons: Umaga 3 Pens: Umaga (18).
London Irish: T Parton; J Stokes, C Rona, T Hepetema (sin-bin: 29-39), O Hassell-Collins; P Jackson, N Groom; W Goodrick-Clarke (F Gigena 59min), A Creevy (M Matu’u 47), O Hoskins, A Coleman (sin-bin: 55-65), R Simmons (G Nott 75), M Rogerson, B Cowan (S O’Brien 47), A Tuisue.
Wasps: C Atkinson (R Miller 73); M Watson, J de Jongh, M Le Bourgois (J Gopperth 65), J Bassett; J Umaga, D Robson; T West (S McIntyre 38), G Oghre (T Cruse 53), K Brookes (J Toomaga-Allen 42), W Rowlands, J Gaskell, B Shields (T Cardall 72), T Young (S Langi Vailanu 51), T Willis.
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