TEAM togetherness helped Wasps come out on top at Northampton Saints according boss Dai Young as his side made it four wins out of four to move to the top summit of the Aviva Premiership table.
The visitors rode their luck in a match that could have gone either way on at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday and eventually ran out 15-20 winners.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with the start,” said Young. “If you had offered me this before the start of the season I would have certainly taken it.
“It has gone far better than even I could have hoped. Naturally, there’s going to be a bump along the road somewhere and it will be about how we handle that.
“I think for a big part of the game we were up against it. We certainly didn’t win that game on structure and being smart. We won that game on togetherness and heart.
“We found a way to win and that shows a lot of character within this team, we certainly didn’t play anything like we would have liked before the game. We were second best in a lot of areas, but we stuck together and found a way to win.”
With just 70 seconds on the clock the hosts took the lead thanks to a well-worked unconverted try by George North but a stunning try from Wasps saw Jimmy Gopperth end a superb attacking move and he added the extras plus a penalty to put the visitors 10-5 in front at half-time.
A second Gopperth penalty extended Wasps’ lead to eight points shortly after the half-hour mark and it stayed that way until six minutes from time after Nathan Hughes had been yellow-carded replacement Tom Kessell bundled the ball over the line and Stephen Myler’s conversion made it 12-13.
With five minutes remaining there was still all to play for and it was Wasps who managed to ultimately wrap up the win as Josh Bassett won the race to the try line to touch down and Gopperth converted.
A last minute penalty by Myler cut the deficit to five but that proved to be the final score of the match as Wasps maintained their 100 per cent winning run, which is now there best start to a season since 1996/97.
“I’m really pleased with the squad,” Young added. “I thought it was a fantastic effort from the whole 23. We are rotating nicely now and the boys are coming off the bench and doing a good job.
“We didn’t play well, defensively we rode our luck on occasions and we were loose with the ball.
“We are going to have to be better next week, because you can’t always rely on the bit of luck that we got. Harlequins have beaten Saracens, so it’s another a big game for us next Sunday at the Ricoh Arena.”