Wasps count cost of Abbott's bad break

Mark Baldwin|Evening Standard|In Biarritz

14 April 2012

Wasps will need all their famed resilience and strength of character to weather the fallout from failure in Europe.

There will be an increase in speculation about the immediate future of director of rugby Warren Gatland, Lawrence Dallaglio's Lions tour ambitions received a blow and a serious injury to Stuart Abbott added to the club's season-long woes in that area.

But Josh Lewsey, the England wing, has moved quickly to scotch suggestions that Saturday's 18-15 Heineken Cup defeat at Biarritz, their third group loss, marked the end of a glorious era for Wasps.

Lewsey said: "I don't think we have peaked as a team at all. We had a tall order in front of us in this game, needing not just to beat Biarritz but also score four tries to get the bonus point. But, to my mind, we have gone out simply because we let Leicester get away from us in the first 20 minutes of our home game.

"That defeat is the real reason we have gone out, but it is definitely not the end of this team. It hurts to lose the mantle of being European champions, but we are still English champions and now our focus will be on defending our domestic title."

Dallaglio, the Wasps captain, believes the Biarritz defeat neatly sums up Wasps' problems this season. Abbott's 21st-minute injury, a leg fracture caused by what seemed to be a trip by Serge Betsen, severely disrupted Wasps' momentum - especially after Abbott had combined so well with Ayoola Erinle to send his centre colleague slicing through midfield for an early try.

Gatland pointed an accusing finger at Betsen after Abbott had been hurt going over the France forward's leg as he tried to jink past him, but Wasps officials plan to study the match video carefully before coming to any firm conclusion about whether it was a deliberate trip or not.

"Clubs are given 50 hours in which to make a citing, so we don't need to come to a hasty decision," said a Wasps spokesman.

The injury means Abbott will miss England's Six Nations campaign.

Wasps' last realistic chance of salvation came on the half-hour when a break by Mark van Gisbergen put scrum-half Matt Dawson away. But Biarritz fly-half Damien Traille managed to stop Dawson getting the ball down with a brilliant last-ditch tackle as he crashed over the try-line.

The video referee was called upon to adjudicate and Wasps would have gone 12-8 ahead at that stage if the score had been given. But Dawson said afterwards: "I've no complaints. I didn't feel that I had got the ball down. I was held up, I'm afraid."

A try three minutes from time by prop Tim Payne spoke volumes for Wasps' pride and spirit, but Dallaglio admitted that too many unforced errors had cost his side dear.

"I can't criticise the players for lack of effort, but we just didn't play well enough. Biarritz are a very good side, but we were never accurate enough when it mattered. We made basic errors we just didn't make last year.

"We have had two fantastic years, and this season was always going to be difficult after doing the double.

"If we had beaten Leicester at home we would be through now and if Daws had scored in the first half things might have been different. But we've no complaints.

"We want to win a third successive Zurich Premiership title, and I think it's to our advantage domestically that Leicester have made it through to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals."

The Premiership, of course, now represents Dallaglio's only showcase in which to win Lions selection, while Gatland's continued presence at Wasps could well depend on how the club's domestic campaign fares.

He is contracted until June 2006, but he wants to return to New Zealand at some stage and ducked questions about his long-term future.

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Wasps count cost of Abbott's bad break

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