Wasps stung at Stoop
Harlequins clinched 17-10 derby victory over London rivals Wasps on Saturday in their first Premiership clash of 2011 at the Stoop.
By Simon Dilger
Last Updated: 08/01/11 5:13pm
Harlequins clinched 17-10 derby victory over London rivals Wasps on Saturday in their first Premiership clash of 2011 at the Stoop.
The visitors dominated possession for long periods during the match but Quins were by far the more clinical of the two sides and needed no encouragement to grab their chances when they came.
Three first-half tries from Jo Marler, Mike Brown and Nick Easter put the hosts firmly in the driving seat at the interval.
And, although Wasps upped the pressure further in the second half, it would have little effect on the outcome as they continued to squander good opportunities with needless errors.
The opening try came on 16 minutes after Quins winger Tom Williams leapt high out on the right, to claim ownership of a great crossfield kick from stand-off Nick Evans.
The recycled ball was rapidly fired out to Jo Marler on the left touchline, who made good use of his size to power over for the try. Evans missed the conversion.
Nailed
Wasps took just five minutes to reply after blood replacement Joe Simpson fed quick ball to his backs from the base of a ruck on Quins' 22.
Ben Jacobs neatly drew in Ugo Monye before offloading to Houghton who raced down the touchline to score. Fly-half Dave Walder added the extras to put his side 7-5 up.
The hosts had a chance to recapture the lead after 26 minutes but Evans watched his penalty attempt drift wide of the uprights.
Mike Brown was bang on target five minutes later though, when Care spotted a gap on the blindside at a ruck five yards out and close to the left touchline.
The England scrum-half flicked the ball up for the waiting Brown who barged over from close range for the try and Nick Evans nailed the conversion with a fine touchline kick to make it 12-7.
Quins' third try came with just three first-half minutes remaining, after some great work by Chris Robshaw and fullback Brown helped take the hosts right up to the Wasps line.
Bludgeoned
The recycled ball found Nick Easter and the big number eight bludgeoned his way over, although he had to endure a short wait before the tv official confirmed the try.
Evans' uncharacteristically poor day with the boot continued and he was unable to add to the score.
But the hosts, nevertheless, were happy to end the half with a healthy 17-7 lead over their London rivals.
The first chance for points in the second half came 11 minutes after the restart when the Quins forwards were pinged for an infringement at the scrum.
This time however, it was Walder who could not find the target and hooked his mid-range penalty attempt wide.
Walder missed another three minutes short of the hour mark, but he made no mistake on 60 minutes, slotting three points from just outside the hosts' 22 after they were caught offside at the breakdown.
Just a converted try behind, the visitors continued to push for another score and camped themselves firmly in the hosts' half for much of the final quarter.
The try began to look increasingly likely for Wasps but they were simply unable to capitalise on the pressure, through a combination of a resolute Quins defence and a series of handling errors that brutally exposed their inability to finish.
