1
Rare try for Dan Cole as Leicester beat Wasps to secure top-half Premiership finish
Leicester secured their first top-half Premiership finish for three seasons after edging Wasps 38-31 at the Ricoh Arena where spectators enjoyed their first live action for 15 months. Both teams qualified for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup, with Leicester ending the campaign in sixth spot and Wasps in eighth.
ADVERTISEMENT
Only one point separated them before the match, but the Tigers have taken a stride forward while Wasps, last season’s beaten finalists, have regressed. Nine of the players involved will report for England duty on Monday but it was someone whose international career appears to be over, Dan Cole, who made a decisive impact in a first half that swung in the summer sunshine.
The former Lions prop had scored two tries in 190 Premiership appearances for Leicester but increased his tally by 50 per cent seven minutes before half-time, forcing his way over the line after Harry Wells and Julian Montoya worked a clever lineout move.
Leicester enjoyed more of the play on a ground where they had lost on their previous six visits in the Premiership but Wasps compensated for their indiscipline with moments of individual brilliance on an afternoon when neither side needed to win to qualify for Europe.
Wasps took the lead after seven minutes. Wells made a try-saving tackle on Brad Shields, but a series of rucks on the Leicester line ended with No8 Sione Vailanu scoring on an afternoon when all nine tries were converted. Leicester drew level after 19 minutes when Dan Kelly, one of the England newcomers, made a break from a scrum and second row Cameron Henderson scooped an off-load off his feet and stretched out for the line.
"It's impossible for people to want to be in the gym every single day doing all those extras but I have seen it as like people taking their vitamins every day"
– It has been a frustrating, injury-hit 2020/21 for Wasps' Marcus Watson #WASvLEIhttps://t.co/kj2tNeUo2t
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 12, 2021
The set-piece was the source for the Tigers’ second try which gave them the lead, scored by their other centre Mike Scott after the burly wing Nemani Nadolo had distracted the defence as a decoy. Leicester were at their most vulnerable just after they had scored and within two minutes Wasps were level. Marcus Watson’s kick infield was picked up by Jacob Umaga and the out-half stepped away from Zack Henry before rounding Freddie Steward on a 40-metre run.
Johnny McPhillips kicked a penalty to restore Leicester’s lead before Cole’s try made it 24-14 to the visitors, only for Wasps to win the restart and set up Vailanu for his second try. Leicester secured their bonus point and Champions Cup berth six minutes after the restart when a Wells charge and Jack van Poortvliet snipe set up hooker Montoya, but back came Wasps through second row Will Rowlands, playing his final match for the club before joining the Dragons.
ADVERTISEMENT
Henry was sent to the sin-bin for a flip tackle on Watson after 61 minutes, but Wasps continued to concede penalties and Tomas Lavanini sealed victory for the Tigers seven minutes from time before Umaga’s late penalty gave Wasps a second bonus point.
It was reported on Tuesday that players were in the clear following the Welford Road bust-up, but the Leicester captain has now been told he has a case to answer https://t.co/lGFTjN2UC5
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 11, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments