Rugby Union: Wasps strike at the death
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Your support makes all the difference.Bristol. . .15
Wasps. . . .16
TWO late tries beat Bristol at the Memorial Ground last night and so kept Wasps in third place, admittedly in the dim distance behind Bath and Leicester, in the First Division of the Courage Championship.
It was a splendid comeback effort by the London side, though Bristol will rue the missing of an outstanding chance to move above Wasps. Notwithstanding the defeat, the great West Country club, sleeping giants for too long, have woken up to the fact that they are destined for their highest finish in the league's seven seasons.
Derek Eves's pack have held their own with the best this season and in these parts they rate both Andy Blackmore and Simon Shaw as ill-served to have missed out on the final England lock place for the South African tour that went to Leicester's Matthew Poole.
On the other hand, they still hope that Paul Hull will fill the full-back place vacated by Ian Hunter - in which case he would be the only Bristolian on board. Kyran Bracken needs no reminding that exams have forced him out but last night he was facing the very scrum-half who has replaced him, Steve Bates.
Bristol's problem is their lack of attacking ideas, and this is more than a minor inconvenience when defences are so well-organised and well-manned. Wasps did not have great trouble in bottling up Bristol's back-row and rolling-maul predictability and showed how it should be done when Ryan was relentlessly driven over for their first try.
Even so, Bristol had generally been the better side until they belatedly withered. Mark Tainton kicked four penalties to two by Chris Braithwaite before Ryan's try and Tainton's fifth left Bristol with three minutes to survive.
They failed to do so when Phil Hopley struck at the death, Bristol complaining at various aspects of the Wasps build-up, notably Lawrence Dallaglio's plucking of the ball out of the back row when Bristol were heeling at a scrum.
Bristol: Penalties Tainton 5. Wasps: Tries Ryan, P Hopley; Penalties Braithwaite 2.
Bristol: M Denney; D John, A Saverimutto, R Knibbs, R Kitchin; M Tainton, K Bracken; A Sharp, M Regan, D Hinkins, S Shaw, A Blackmore, I Patten, C Barrow, D Eves (capt).
Wasps: A Maddock; P Hopley, F Clough, D Hopley, S Hunter; C Braithwaite (C Wright, 11-15), S Bates; D Molloy, K Dunn, J Probyn, R Kinsey, M Greenwood, L Dallaglio, D Ryan (capt), M White.
Referee: D Leslie (Preston).
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