King proves his worth as Perpignan are crushed

Wasps 28 Perpignan 7

Alex King cannot kick goals like Jonny Wilkinson, as he proved by hooking one penalty shot so badly that the ball had more chance of bisecting the posts at Loftus Road, where Wasps used to play, than at the Causeway Stadium in High Wycombe, where they happened to be playing yesterday. This is not the only difference between the two men; King does not tackle like the proverbial ton of bricks - Wilkinson is very much the master mason in this department - and almost certainly could not afford to reject a £1m approach from those inquisitive types at Hello! magazine, should they suddenly fancy taking a butchers at his bathroom.

But he is, and will always remain, an outside-half who justifies the price of a match ticket. Think Gregor Townsend, think Arwel Thomas - flawed players, fragile even, but blessed by the Gods of rugby creativity - and it is easy to place King in the great scheme of things, for he should have been born a Celt. Then, he would have divided a nation, 50 per cent of whom would have claimed him as a genius against the 50 per cent who considered him more trouble than he was worth.

He does not divide his own rugby public, especially now they have a trophy to cherish, delivered by you know who. (Was there ever a more thoroughly English outside-half than Wilkinson?) King was in the shake-up for World Cup duty, having played his rivals, young Jonny included, off the park during the second half of last season's Premiership. But even before he broke down with knee trouble a few days before the final selection, there was no guarantee of his beating Paul Grayson or Mike Catt to a place in the Australian sun. Clive Woodward, the England coach who can do no wrong, has not wholly trusted the 28-year-old play-maker since the dark days of the 1998 "tour of hell", and once Woodward forms a view of a chap, he tends to stick to it.

So King finds himself back in the old routine, doing his damnedest for the Wasps' cause and hoping against hope that someone, somewhere will take up the cudgels on his behalf. He played pretty well yesterday, given the intensity of a big Heineken Cup meeting with last season's runners-up that arrived only a game and a half into his surgery-delayed season; indeed, he gave Perpignan such a runaround early on that the thing was effectively done and dusted by the end of the first quarter, and he contributed handsomely to the second of Josh Lewsey's tries, finished in the right corner after a prime passing movement featuring Tom Voyce and Mark van Gisbergen.

"Alex did not show the slightest sign of disappointment, of being down about things, when he came back here from the England camp," said Warren Gatland, the Wasps coach. "He must have been, of course, but he didn't let on to his colleagues. That's his strength, and it's good to have him back in circulation. He kicked away some quality possession out there - I'd have liked to see him move the ball a little more - but in terms of controlling a game, he's improved out of all recognition over the last couple of seasons."

Whether King will get another shot at England honours is a seriously moot point, given Wilkinson's hero status and Charlie Hodgson's return to form and fitness at Sale. He is not the sort to wish an injury on his own worst enemy, but to get a look in come the Six Nations' Championship in February, he will probably need some carnage among his peers. The same goes for one of the less familiar faces at Wasps, the former Connacht flanker Jonny O'Connor, although if his performance here was anything to go by, the Irishman has more to anticipate in terms of an international future.

O'Connor was at the very heart of a first-half performance that bordered on completeness. Perpignan looked poor - in fact, they looked profoundly useless - but this was more to do with their hosts' expertise than their own shortcomings, and that expertise was defined as much by the newest member of the Wasps pack as by the likes of Craig Dowd and Lawrence Dallaglio.

"How good is he? Ssshhh," whispered Gatland, who would like O'Connor to remain a surprise package for as long as possible. "The boys are raving about him, which tells you everything you need to know. He'll break down physically sooner or later, because he's so committed; in fact, I'll give him a week off now. He wants it all so badly, you see. I worked with him during my time in Ireland, when he was on the fringes of representative rugby. Having worked with him again over the last few months, I'd say he is as good an open side as the Irish have produced in years."

Once the Perpignan hard-heads realised they would get nothing from the game - they were 23-0 down at the break following Lewsey's close-range scamper to the left flag and Stuart Abbott's beautifully realised stepper's try on the other side of the pitch - O'Connor was their primary target. Franck Tournaire, Michel Konieckiewicz and the broodingly aggressive Christophe Porcu all went looking for him on the floor, and found him with enough frequency to make him suffer for his art. But O'Connor is a tough hombre himself, very much in the tradition of Fergus Slattery, and if he did not exactly laugh in their faces, he certainly treated them to a boyish smile.

"It will be harder when we go down Perpignan way at the end of January," admitted Dallaglio, who fully expects his beaten-up features to be further rearranged by Porcu and company.

O'Connor faces a similar examination of his pain threshold, but on this evidence, the Catalans will be wasting their time. By then, he will have learned to laugh out loud.

Wasps: Tries Lewsey 2, Abbott; Conversions King 2; Penalties King 3. Perpignan: Try Edmonds; Conversion Cermeno.

Wasps: M Van Gisbergen; J Lewsey (J Rudd, 16-32), F Waters, S Abbott (M Denney, 77), T Voyce (J Rudd, 74); A King, R Howley (P Richards, 70); C Dowd (T Payne, 61), T Leota (B Gotting, 61), W Green (Dowd, 81), S Shaw (M Purdy, 61), R Birkett, J Worsley (P Volley 21), J O'Connor, L Dallaglio (capt).

Perpignan: F Cermeno; P Bomati, D Marty, C Manas, D Luger; M Edmonds, J Fillol (L Loustau, 68); P Freshwater (V Debaty, 72), M Konieckiewicz (N Grelon, 82), F Tournaire (N Mas, 47), C Gaston, C Porcu (L Mallier, 47), G Le Corvec (J Labat, 82), B Goutta (capt). R Alvarez Kairelis.

Referee: D Courtney (Ireland).