HEINEKEN CUP POOL SIX Wasps 38 Glasgow 26:WASPS HAVE not been the same since Lawrence Dallaglio's retirement, but in Andy Powell they have at least found a ball-carrier who provides a target for those around him.
Powell, a 2009 Lion who was thrown out of the Wales squad this year for taking a golf buggy while over the limit and driving down the M4 in search of breakfast, will never be accused of possessing Dallaglio’s capacity for thinking on his feet and having a wide strategic outlook, but he does set an example when motivated.
Powell, who hopes to be named today in the Wales squad for the autumn internationals, just a few months after his Test career appeared over, looks to have found his sanctuary at a club that sees itself as a refuge for lost souls.
He has had as many clubs as the average golf buggy driver, but he is, in turn, helping one that had also lost its way.
Powell played a significant role in two of his side’s four tries in a bonus-point victory that keeps them on course to finish at the top of their pool. “Everyone thought we were taking a risk by signing him, but as soon as we met Andy we knew he would fit here,” said the Wasps director of rugby, Tony Hanks.
His capacity for keeping the ball by offloading is essential for a side whose strength does not lie in the set-pieces. With the scrumhalf, Joe Simpson, alert and quick on his feet, slow ball is a curse for Wasps. That said, their first two tries came from scrums. Having been taken apart up front in Toulouse the previous week, they forced Moray Low to go high. The Glasgow tighthead was twice penalised at scrums and then put the low in yellow when he was sent to the sin-bin for not releasing Serge Betsen after a tackle.
Wasps were 11-3 up by then. Simpson scored a try on seven minutes after Glasgow were shoved backwards in a scrum so hard that their back row was too busy to react to the scrumhalf picking up and scurrying down the blindside.
Low had just gone off when Glasgow, packing with eight men by deploying the centre Graeme Morrison at wing forward, lost their own put-in.
Powell’s perfectly timed offload allowed Dave Walder to kick to the line for Tom Varndell to claim his fifth try of the season.
By the time Low returned, the score was 18-13, although Walder was just about to kick his third penalty. The outside-half Ruaridh Jackson had scored all his side’s points, landing two penalties and converting his own try, created by a deft chip from the flanker, John Barclay.
Glasgow struggled to sustain pressure, not least because they kept giving away penalties at the breakdown, and Wasps went into the break 28-13 ahead when Powell again surged over the gainline and slipped a pass under pressure to Riki Flutey.
Glasgow felt the centre had knocked on but the referee ruled that the hooker, Fergus Thomson, had tipped the ball backwards and Ben Jacobs forced his way over.
It took Wasps until the final quarter to secure the bonus point they needed to close the gap with Toulouse to two points, Flutey and Dan Ward-Smith prompting a counter-attack that the replacement centre, Dominic Waldouck, finished off, but most of the half belonged to Glasgow.
They forced their way back to 38-26 through the boot of Jackson and a try from the replacement hooker, Dougie Hall. Morrison was held up over the line and despite almost constant pressure in the Wasps’ 22 in the final 10 minutes, Glasgow lacked the craft to unpick the defence.
WASPS: Haughton (Van Gisbergen, h-t); Varndell, Jacobs (Waldouck, 51), Flutey, Lemi; Walder, Simpson; Beech, Webber (Ward, 62), Taulafo (Broster, 65), Shaw (Worsley, 65), Birkett (Veale, 80), Ward-Smith, Betsen (capt), Powell. Tries: Simpson, Varndell, Jacobs, Waldouck. Cons: Walder 3. Pens: Walder 4.
GLASGOW: Stortoni (Pyrgos, 61); Van der Merwe, Evans, Morrison, Aramburu (Dewey, h-t); Jackson, Gregor; Welsh (Grant, 65), Thomson (Hall, h-t), Low (Kalman, 56), Ryder (Forrester, 56), Gray, Harley, Barclay (capt), Vernon (Wilson, 71). Tries: Jackson, Hall. Cons: Jackson 2. Pens: Jackson 4. Sin-bin: Low 24. Attendance: 6,759.
