Wasps' late sting just too much
Jake Cooper-Woolley bulldozed over for a late try to break Worcester Warriors hearts, denying them a first Premiership win of the season and helping London Wasps claim a 13-11 win at Sixways.
The Warriors, who sit bottom of the table, had not tasted victory in the competition since March of 2013 – when they beat Wasps.
But they led 11-6 when the clocked ticked into the red courtesy of Sam Betty's score after a moment of magic from David Lemi.
However, Wasps refused to give up and after hammering away at the Worcester line in overtime, Cooper-Woolley crashed over and Andy Goode held his nerve to convert and claim the win over his old club.
Worcester started the better of the two sides and Chris Pennell slotted a penalty on five minutes to give them a deserved 3-0 lead.
Wasps' ambitions were further dented by an injury to Josh Bassett five minutes in with Charlie Davies taking his place and scrumhalf Joe Simpson switching to the wing.
Pennell was given the chance to extend his side's lead with a long-range penalty on 20 minutes but it was wide of the posts.
Ryan Lamb then saw a drop-goal attempt fly wide as the Warriors attempted to add to their lead.
Wasps drew level when Sam Jones and Ashley Johnson made the hard yards and once the Worcester defence was penalised, Goode knocked over the penalty.
Pennell attempted another long-range penalty on the stroke of half-time but again it was wide and the two sides headed in at the break locked at 3-3.
The home side took the lead two minutes after half-time when Goode slotted another penalty.
However, it was Worcester who produced the game's first moment of real magic 13 minutes into the second half.
Lemi produced a scintillating 40-metre break to beat two defenders and lay on the simplest of tries for Betty.
Lamb was wide with the conversion but the Warriors still led 8-6 as they attempted to earn themselves a survival lifeline.
Goode tried to respond with a drop-goal but was off target and then Lemi hobbled off for Worcester to be replaced by Andy Symons.
Wasps responded well, applying pressure to their hosts but they gifted Worcester the chance to extend their advantage when Carlo Festuccia was penalised for a high tackle.
Lamb held his nerve and his long-range penalty just sneaked over the bar to put the Warriors 11-6 ahead.
Wasps threatened again with five minutes to go as Chris Bell's scything break caused panic in the home side's defence.
Daly took the ball on and Wasps went through the phases as Worcester tried desperately to shut them out.
Twice Wasps were denied on the line with Worcester captain Jonathan Thomas putting his body on the line.
However with one last shove Cooper-Woolley found a way through the brave defence and Goode converted to steal the victory of Wasps.
The scorers:
For Worcester Warriors:
Try: Betty
Pens: Pennell, Lamb
For London Wasps:
Try: Cooper-Woolley
Con: Goode
Pens: Goode 2
Teams:
Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Josh Drauniniu, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Ravai Fatiaki, 11 David Lemi, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 Jonathan Thomas (captain), 7 Sam Betty, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 James Percival, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Ofa Fainga'anuku.
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington, 17 Paul Andrew, 18 Rob O'Donnell, 19 Semisi Taulava, 20 Richard de Carpentier, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Ignacio Mieres, 23 Andy Symons.
London Wasps: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 James Short, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Chris Bell, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Sam Jones, 7 James Haskell, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Lindsay, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Ricky Reeves, 18 Simon McIntyre, 19 Tom Palmer, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Charlie Hayter.
Referee: Andrew Small
Assistant referees: Ashley Rowden, Paul Dix
TMO: David Grashoff
