England hope Barbeary 'outstanding' as 14-man Wasps beat Toulouse
Wasps overcame two controversial refereeing decisions including a red card shown to Jacob Umaga to register a stirring 30-22 Heineken Champions Cup victory over holders Toulouse. England prospect Alfie Barbeary crossed for the crucial try in the 69th minute as Lee Blackett’s side defied the odds at the CBS Arena to keep alive their ambition of reaching the knockout phase.
Umaga was sent off six minutes before half-time for his challenge on scrum-half Martin Page-Relo, with referee Chris Busby stating there was head-to-head contact and no mitigation. However, Umaga was attempting to wrap his arms around Relo, who was already falling downwards because of a low tackle from Charlie Atkinson.
It was his second red card in two matches, but the setback failed to douse Wasps’ fire as they continued to lead 14-10 on the basis of converted forward tries from Biyi Alo and Brad Shields. Somehow Busby, overseeing his first match in the competition, did find mitigation when No8 Anthony Jelonch floored Barbeary with a shoulder to the head but the official’s inconsistency was taken in their stride.
Two penalties by Jimmy Gopperth even extended their lead to 20-10 as they summoned the spirit evident when inflicting Leicester’s first defeat of the campaign a week earlier. Toulouse were rattled and only able to show glimpses of the brilliance that swept them to a fifth European Cup crown last season, but they were the next to score through hooker Peato Mauvaka.
The outstanding Barbeary delivered at the crucial moment, however, as Wasps fought furiously at every turn to complete their comeback from a disastrous start that signposted an ominous afternoon ahead.
Sparks fly as England prospect Umaga sees red in his first game back after a ban following a Boxing Day sending-off ?#Wasps #HeinekenChampionsCup #WASvTOUhttps://t.co/Xyj0PkZSVG
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 15, 2022
Only two minutes were on the clock when Wasps were breached for the first time and all flanker Francois Cros had to do was fall over the line after a powerful Toulouse maul left its mark. Wasps were coming under pressure in all departments until a scrum free-kick provided the opportunity to attack and they spent the next ten minutes probing the defence.
Their patient build-up eventually paid off when prop Alo crashed over from short range, but two carries from Paolo Odogwu were also crucial as he made his first appearance since May because of knee surgery.
It appeared that the early Toulouse onslaught had been beaten back as Wasps went straight back onto the offensive and the breakthrough came faster this time as a smart line-out drive propelled Shields across the whitewash.
As the champions quickly fell apart, Odogwu initiated a fresh attack and although it amounted to nothing, the tide had turned fully. Umaga, playing at full-back, showed remarkable athleticism to keep a Toulouse touch finder in play, but moments later he was sent off and Thomas Ramos nailed the three points.
Toulouse still trailed 14-10 but their offloading game was starting to create gaps and influential No8 Tom Willis was told his afternoon was over because of a failed HIA. Yet Wasps showed their resilience by winning penalties early in the second half, one of which Gopperth sent between the uprights, as they tore into the Top 14 title contenders.
Jelonch escaped with only a yellow card for his tackle on Barbeary but another penalty landed by Gopperth provided some consolation. Despite being a man down, Toulouse engineered their second try when hooker Mauvaka finished the type of line-out maul that had emerged as their most effective tool.
But Wasps hit back through Barbeary after Atkinson had almost rolled his way over and the flanker continued to be at the heart of the final stages in a famous win for his team.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments