Some regular seasons end with a bang, offering an explosion of colour and sound that underlines a campaign well fought and serves as a platform for greater prizes in the playoffs. Others sparkle with the intensity of a toddler’s birthday candle, proving as enticing as spit-covered cake. The 24th and final league match for Leicester and Wasps fell in the latter category.
It was error strewn and bereft of show-stopping moments. “Clunky,” was the word Leicester’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, used. Even a boring rugby match – and this one might well be described in such terms – is filled with big hits and enthusiastic runs, so those don’t deserve mention here. What is worth noting is that Leicester’s full-strength team failed to get out of second gear while Wasps missed a chance to sneak into next year’s Champions Cup. Both sets of coaches will be annoyed by something when they wake up on Sunday.
It looked so promising at first. Two minutes in, Leicester had the feed to a lineout inside Wasps’ 22. It went to the back and was quickly fizzed to George Ford in midfield. A short pass found Guy Porter on the angle who brushed off two inept tackles and rounded a flat-footed Paolo Odogwu to score under the posts. Ford’s conversion was good and another mauling at the hands of the Tigers was on the cards.
What followed was below par for a team with title aspirations. They conceded a penalty while in possession of a driving maul and another with the put-in to a scrum. Later, a throw from Charlie Clare sailed clear over his jumpers.
When Ollie Chessum gave away a penalty in the maul, Borthwick berated him from the gantry, prowling and snarling like a caged Bengal, grinding his teeth and daring anyone to make eye contact with him.
Ford’s miss at a regulation shot at goal summed up the preceding 38 minutes.
Wasps battled but looked like a side that belongs in Europe’s second tier. Passes and offloads were either fumbled or found nothing but air. They attacked the gainline and had a few breaks though those came to nothing. The half-time whistle arrived as a mercy with one try the difference.
Wasps restarted as the brighter and spent the opening 10 minutes in Leicester’s red-zone but were repelled with relative comfort. Jimmy Gopperth opened his team’s account with a penalty, begrudgingly taking the points.
The first burst of sunshine on the hour mark heralded a charge from Ellis Genge from first-phase ball. He carried up the middle and put Leicester on the front foot and within sight of a try they would eventually secure through a diving Freddie Steward – one of the few shining lights – who was unleashed by Matías Moroni on the right off the back of sustained pressure.
A Ford penalty opened a 14-point lead and effectively ended the contest, consigning Wasps to their worst league finish in 10 years, a damning contradiction to the assertion from the club’s head coach, Lee Blackett, who said that his side was “moving in the right direction”.
Replacement Will Porter scored a try after a breakout of slick interplay on the left that included Josh Bassett wriggling out of a confined space in his own half.
Ford’s second penalty ensured Leicester signed off on top of the table, a position they have occupied from the opening weekend.
Despite ending with 40 more points than they earned last year, they have not won anything yet. They will need to rediscover their accuracy in the coming weeks if they wish to change that.
