Telegraph report (I do like it that 2 Covid positives mean Dragons were under-strength, but Wasps with, basically, a full team out, were not)
Wasps overcome last-minute Covid fears to see off under-strength Dragons
Dragons 8 Wasps 24
Lee Blackett, the Wasps head coach, did not want a major pre-match issue to take away from his team’s Champions Cup victory over Dragons in Newport.
But the fact that the fixture could have fallen by the wayside due to positive Covid-19 tests on two of the Welsh side’s players, which Blackett only discovered hours before kick-off, overshadowed the game itself when he explained about it later.
It also overshadowed a gutsy Dragons display that put Wasps on the edge until two late tries from flankers Jack Willis and Thomas Young put them far enough ahead to win with a four-try bonus point.
Dragons’ squad tested negative during the week but contact testing results discovered on Thursday meant two home players needed retesting, which, on Friday, became positive.
Wasps were in Wales by the time they found out and the players were asked whether they wanted to play. Their reply was to do so.
Blackett said: “What has gone on in terms of Covid tests, you have to give a lot of credit to our players. For our guys to mentally get their heads back on and to come away with a result, I was very pleased with.
“I don’t want this to be a distraction, but it is what it is. We are living in this world and we know well and truly from the Premiership final that it is tough.
“I know how tough it would have been for Dean [Ryan, director of rugby] and everyone at the Dragons to turn out a performance, but they played well. With 10 or 15 minutes to go, the game was in the balance.”
But for a number of errors, Wasps could have been away from the Welsh region early on, but they came off at half-time with a try from hooker Tom Cruse and a superbly worked effort by scrum-half Dan Robson, along with a conversion from centre Jimmy Gopperth, to show for their efforts.
Dragons were just a penalty from fly-half Sam Davies to the good at this stage.
Yet a well-crafted try from Wales international wing Jonah Holmes, once of Leicester, which saw the ball thrown down the backs for Welsh centre Jamie Roberts to give the final pass, put the Dragons within striking distance.
There was nothing in it until Willis rolled around a maul from an attacking line-out to score with 11 minutes of the game left.
Three minutes later, Young snatched the ball inside the Dragons 22, found a gap and dived over for the fourth and bonus-point try, with Gopperth converting.
It was the first time the Dragons had played in Europe’s top competition since 2011, and Ryan admitted that it was difficult after the coronavirus incident the day before.
The former back row, who played for Wasps in the mid-1990s, said: “This week we had 100 per cent clear in testing on Tuesday, with a review of the Welsh Rugby Union that received an ‘excellent’.
“But it is part of life, it is part of the world, and we ended up with two symptomatic players on Friday, which is probably the worst time for us.
“So, we had to test and when it returned positives, it was late on Friday night and guys worked throughout the night to understand what that meant in terms of contact. It was difficult to work through.”
Match details
Scores 0-5 Cruse try; 3-5 Davies pen; 3-10 Robson try; 3-12 Gopperth con; 8-12 Holmes try; 8-17 Willis try; 8-22 Young try; 8-24 Gopperth con.
Dragons J Lewis; J Rosser, N Tompkins (J Dixon 69), J Roberts, J Holmes; S Davies, R Williams (T Knoyle 73); B Harris (J Reynolds 71), R Hibbard (E Dee. 59), A Jarvis, B Carter, J Maksymiw (J Davies. 65), L Evans, T Basham, O Griffiths (L Greggains 42).
Wasps L Sopoaga; Z Kibirige, P Odogwu, J Gopperth, J Bassett; C Atkinson (M Le Bourgeois 56), D Robson; T West, T Cruse (G Oghre 61), K Brookes (J Toomaga-Allen, 43) J Launchbury, W Rowlands, (B Morris), 74) J. Willis, T Young, A Barbeary.
Referee Romain Poite (France).
Always a Wasp