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Wasps get Challenge Cup campaign up and running
By Online Editors
Wasps got their European Challenge Cup campaign up and running with a 32-14 win over Agen at the Ricoh Arena. The home side, beaten away in their Pool 3 opener to Bordeaux Begles last weekend, had trailed to a converted try from Loris Tolot.
Ashley Johnson, though, went over from a maul before Jacob Umaga’s kicking extended the lead to 13-7 at the break. Further tries from Tommy Taylor and Johnson put Wasps in command, with Malakai Fekitoa crossing to secure the bonus point. Fernandez Correa added a late consolation for the hosts.
London Irish ran in seven tries to beat Bayonne 45-31 in their Pool 2 match at the Madejski Stadium. The Exiles, beaten 20-16 against Scarlets last time out, scored five tries in the first half – during which the French club also crossed four times to go into the break at 31-24.
Converted tries for Saia Fainga’a and Ben Meehan gave the hosts some breathing space. A late score for former Harlequins number eight Mat Luamanu, his second of the match, secured Bayonne a bonus point.
Stand-off Paddy Jackson completed five conversions, including one from his own try after 25 minutes, to finish with a personal haul of 14 points.
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Saturday’s early kick-off in Pool 1 saw Worcester Warriors beaten 17-9 away at Castres. Duncan Weir kicked three penalties for the visitors, however first-half tries for winger Filipo Nakosi and flanker Baptiste Delaporte proved enough for the French side.
Elsewhere, in Pool 4, Stade Francais picked up a much-needed 13-12 win at Zebre. The Paris club – bottom of the Top 14 and having seen coach Heyneke Meyer depart – scored a converted try from Gael Fickou, with Nicolas Sanchez adding two penalties. The Italians, though, made a late fight back with a penalty try setting up a tense finale.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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