Wasps cling on to boost quarter-final hopes as last-minute Dan Robson try seals thrilling victory over Toulouse

Wasps 17 Toulouse 14: Wasps trail Pool Two leaders Connacht by one point but head to Zebre with wind in their sails after taking giant stride towards qualification

Wasps celebrate after Dan Robson's last-minute try secures victory over Toulouse (Getty)

Wasps hung on to control of European Champions Cup Pool Two by their fingertips with a last-minute try by scrum-half Dan Robson settling a thrillingly switchback match in Coventry.

The Premiership’s league leaders and top try-scorers survived two yellow cards to Christian Wade and Danny Cipriani to narrowly outlast their French opponents and are now odds-on favourites to win the group.

Wasps are one point behind Connacht at the top but have a trip to Zebre in their concluding match next Sunday while the Irish province travel to Toulouse who are still in the mix, with a maximum two places in the quarter-finals on offer.

And assuming Wasps nab a victory over the hitherto winless and pointless Italians in Parma, the English side will be guaranteed a spot in the last eight, either as pool winners or as one of the best three runners-up.

Wasps and Toulouse have six European Cup titles between them but there has been a gap between celebratory drinks since the most recent when Toulouse won their fourth in 2010.

Wasps had their captain Joe Launchbury back from a calf injury, but his fellow England forwards James Haskell and Tommy Taylor were missing with head injuries.

The initial story was of Wasps chances wasted. In the fourth minute there was a great break by Wade racing onto Jimmy Gopperth’s chip but between Kurtley Beale, Joe Simpsoin and Josh Bassett, Wasps somehow picked the wrong angles. A searing break by scrum-half Simpson – making his 200th appearance for his only senior club – also came to nothing.

With Toulouse full-back Maxime Medard trading handling tricks with Cipriani, back in the Wasps starting line-up after being benched for the Premiership win over Leicester last weekend, it was the most entertaining scoreless first quarter you could wish to see – as long as a collective inability to make the final pass or kick tell was charitably overlooked.

After nine minutes there was a terrible miss from the tee by fly-half Jean-Marc Doussain, who was given the Toulouse kicking duties with Luke McAlister injured and Toby Flood on the bench. Directly in front of the posts, Doussain dragged his kick left.

And in the 25th minute, Doussain - the man who won his first cap for France in the final of the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand - missed to the right from a much wider angle, and still it was 0-0.

Eventually Gopperth kicked Wasps in front after 29 minutes with a penalty in midfield after Cipriani – a European Cup winner 10 years ago - found a handy touch on the Toulouse 22-metre line with a kick up the left touchline.

Yoann Huget opened the scoring for the visitors (Getty)

A tackle by Kunatani Kunabuli that slid up to strike Bassett briefly on the chin brought Wasps another penalty – but sensibly no card to the Toulouse wing - two minutes before half-time, but the French club’s No.8 Francois Cros stole the line-out.

Cros and company were worrying Wasps on multiple occasions with their big forwards offloading before or during the tackle – on top of quality, combative work forcing a slew of breakdown turnovers.

In the 52nd minute, it paid off points-wise as Thierry Dusautoir, Richie Gray and Joe Tekori were among the powerful Toulouse carriers before France wing Yoann Huget clattered over the Wasps line from a popped pass inside by Doussain, who also converted the try for a 7-3 lead.

Wasps had come into the match on a run of 19 wins in a row at the Ricoh Arena but their search for a 20th went immediately from bad to worse as Wade tip-tackled Cros and was sent to the sin bin.

Elliot Daly scored the first try for Wasps (Getty)

Then Wasps were awarded a penalty with a harsh call against Toulouse flanker Tala Gray for not rolling away, but Gopperth missed the chance to cut the gap to one point.

An overcooked kick to touch by Elliot Daly was another low moment for the home side, before Gael Fickou missed a long-range penalty attempt for Toulouse.

The rollercoaster lurched Wasps’ way when England centre Daly cut a lovely line through the middle for his side’s first try, using lovely footwork to fox a tired-looking Dusautoir on the visitors’ 10-metre line and sprint to the posts, with Gopperth converting for 10-7 just as Wade was making ready to return to the field.

A scrum penalty awarded to Wasps soon afterwards was a rare fillip at the set-piece, and Toulouse substituted two front-rowers and Dusautoir a minute later.

But any notion the French former champions were fading was dispelled as Thomas Young conceded a penalty on the wrong side of a ruck, and Toulouse set up a line-out in the Wasps 22. A brilliant driving maul scattered Wasps asunder and referee Johnny Lacey awarded a penalty try and a yellow card against Cipriani after deciding the No.10 had made a side entry into the maul just before he ripped the ball from replacement prop Vasil Kakovin.

Robson's match-winning try sets Wasps up perfectly to qualify for the quarter-finals (Getty)

That removed Cipriani for the remainder of the match but his half-back partner, Robson – who had come on early in the second half for wrist-injury victim Simpson – had the exciting final say.

An amazing series of 25 phases for Wasps ended with them awarded a penalty 15 metres in from the left-hand touch, five metres from the goalline, and with Toulouse busy organising their positions Robson cutely tapped to himself for a dramatic score converted by Gopperth.

Robson said: “It was pretty tentative in the first half and we were lacking in that last pass a few times but our forwards did a mighty job.

“We had a bit of a talking-to at half-time and the character showed through the whole 80 minutes was outstanding. We’d spoken about having a big bench to come on, and how we might run around their big pack a bit.”

Scorers:

Wasps: Tries: Daly, Robson; Conversions: Gopperth 2; Penalty: Gopperth.

Toulouse: Tries: Huget, Penalty try; Conversions: Doussain 2.

Teams

Wasps: K Beale; C Wade, E Daly, J Gopperth, J Bassett; D Cipriani, J Simpson (D Robson 44); M Mullan (S McIntyre 64), A Johnson, M Moore (P Swainston 73), J Launchbury (capt), K Myall (M Symons 49), T Young, G Thompson, N Hughes.

Toulouse: M Medard; Kunatani Kunabuli, Y David , G Fickou, Y Huget; J-M Doussain, S Bezy; C Baille (V Kakovin 68), C Tolofua (L Ghiraldini 68), C Johnston (D Aldegheri 57), R Gray, J Tekori (Y Maestri 53), T Dusautoir (capt; P Faasalele 68), T Gray (G Galan 57), Francois Cros (T Gray 73).

Referee: J Lacey (Ireland).