DESPITE making no fewer nine changes for the trip to Northampton Saints, Wasps came away from Franklin’s Gardens with a comfortable 24-3 win to move up to fifth in the Aviva Premiership.
The visitors dominated the opening period on Friday evening and tries from Dan Robson, Rob Miller and Josh Bassett, as well as a try from Jimmy Gopperth, gave Wasps a 24-3 lead at the break.
Northampton fought back in the second period but they were only allowed to score another eight points as Wasps went on to record their fifth victory of the season, and the club’s director of rugby, Dai Young, said he was pleased wit the squad’s depth.
He said: “Some of those guys haven’t had as much rugby as they would like, but I’ve said all season that you are only as good as your squad.
“It is important that when those boys get a chance they stand up and take it and they certainly did.
“I thought they were excellent from the word go and we thoroughly deserved our win.
“It’s the first time we have won here in ten years and hopefully it is not another ten years before we win here again. I couldn’t be happier with that performance and that result.”
There were many standout performers for Wasps but Young picked out debutant Alex Rieder and stand-in captain George Smith for individual praise.
He added: “George has been excellent all week with his leadership, but he was everywhere.
“He did a lot of clever things as well, he not only did his bread and butter stuff around the contact area, but he made little break-outs, acted as the link man and put kicks in behind, so I thought he was excellent and really smart.
“I also thought Alex Rieder in his first game was excellent and obviously Rob Miller got man of the match and he looked real quality.
“Josh Bassett worked so hard for his try, I think he came from about 30 or 40 metres behind Rob, to get on his shoulder.
“So I was really pleased with everyone and we’ve got to enjoy this because I can’t remember the last time I left here with a smile on my face.”
