A stoppage-time interception try from Shane Roiser denied Harlequins a vital
bonus point at Loftus Road on Friday.
Despite fly-half David Slemen failing with four penalties and three drop-goal
attempts, Quins looked set to pick up at least one point from a truly dreadful
game.
But Roiser moved up to collect Will Greenwood's pass on halfway and sprinted
home to keep Wasps' Heineken Cup challenge alive and leave Quins still two
points ahead of basement outfit Leeds, who visit the Stoop in a make-or-break
encounter next Friday.
In their perilous position, Quins preferred to keep invention to a minimum and
rarely offered a serious attacking threat.
Any territorial gains they did make were a result of Wasps errors, such as
Josh Lewsey punting a mammoth kick dead from inside his own 22.
By far the worst home culprit though was hooker Trevor Leota, who through a
variety of means conspired to lose 13 out of 22 line-outs on his own throw.
Given such a dismal effort, it was something of a shock that the visitors
weren't in front at the break, but Slemen was equally profligate with his
goalkicking.
The stand-in stand-off did give his side the lead after nine minutes but that
advantage was cancelled out by Kenny Logan's long-range reply.
Alex King then landed a drop goal after Simon Shaw had fronted a powerful
Wasps forward drive and with Slemen failing to emulate the Wasps man in stoppage
time, the home side trooped in with a three point lead.
It didn't improve much after the break either.
Slemen tried his luck again with a drop-goal shot five minutes after the
restart but to the surprise of absolutely no-one it sailed wide of the
uprights.
To be fair to the Quins man, a fairly blustery wind was blowing across the
ground but his efforts seemed to sum up the pitiful nature of the evening.
However, if that was bad, worse was to follow. Having dragged Wasps across the
field thanks to a Matt Moore burst, Quins moved the ball right where they
created a four-man overlap.
Greenwood intelligently chipped for the corner, where Quins replacement Tony
Diprose and team-mate Ben Gollings awaited the ball with not a Wasps player in
sight.
But, in their combined eagerness to score, the pair somehow managed to knock
the ball on inside the Wasps in-goal area.
Quite what Quins chief executive Mark Evans made of this was uncertain but the
home supporters could barely suppress their laughter.
Leota finally found Ian Jones with a line-out throw only for the former All
Black's knock down to bounce into Ace Tiatia arms allowing the flanker to launch
a Quins counter.
However, the Samoan's next throw was wayward, forcing the Wasps pack to
infringe as they attempted to stem the visitors' forward drive.
From 20 metres, Slemen found the target to pull his team level, although
within a minute he drifted an ambitious drop-goal attempt wide.
With eight minutes remaining, Paul Sampson was thrown on for Wasps sporting a
'Freddie Ljungberg' hairstyle to add a bit of colour to the evening.
The England international inspired the home side to one last effort and after
Leota had again literally thrown away possession, the Wasps forwards scrambled
it back and King landed his second drop goal.
Slemen had a chance to level almost immediately but failed from the corner and
then cruelly, two minutes into stoppage time, Roiser spotted Greenwood's long
pass, intercepted to score and with the last kick King snatched away Quins'
bonus point.
Teams:
Wasps: Lewsey, Roiser, Abbott, Denney, Logan, A. King, Wood,
Dowd, Leota, W. Green, Shaw, Jones, Lock, Worsley, Dallaglio.
Replacements: Sampson for Denney (73), Friday for Wood (70).
Not Used: Leek, Barratt, Jenkins, Beardshaw, Mackenzie.
Tries: Roiser.
Cons: A. King.
Pens: Logan.
Drop Goals: A. King 2.
Harlequins: Gollings, Jewell, Greenwood, Bell, Moore,
D. Slemen, J. Powell, Leonard, Wood, Olver, Morgan, Codling,
White-Cooper, Tiatia, Winters.
Replacements: Diprose for White-Cooper (40).
Not Used: Fuga, Starr, Davison, Duncombe, Mapletoft, Greenstock.
Pens: D. Slemen 2.
Att: 8,388
Ref: Steve Lander (RFU).
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