Oxford 15London Wasps 41The underdog’s audacity lost out to professionalism on Monday as a brave, adventurous Blues side was overpowered by the superior stamina and raw power of London Wasps. Despite the result, this was the Blues’ best performance of the season; in an impressive team effort, winger Jonan Boto provided a man of the match performance by scoring two of “the best tries seen at Iffley Road this season.”The visit of the Premiership champions brought a large crowd to Iffley Road, and the huddled spectators packing its stands were treated to a very high quality game, both teams playing with pace, width and flair. The quality of Oxford’s basic skills and set pieces was a step above previous displays: the line outs were superb, the Blues even stealing a few off the visitors, and the ball handling was almost faultless. This was all the more impressive in view of the difficult conditions, as light, swirling rain built to an all-out rainstorm over the course of the match.Oxford scored all their points during a first half display which contained moments of brilliance. After Ed Thrower had drop-kicked Wasps into an early lead, Boto put the Blues in front with a scintillating try, coming up in support of a Matt Sherman brake in his own 22 and outpacing the cover defence to the tryline. The Blues followed this up with a great time try, driving captain Andy Dalglish over the line. Though Garth Chamberlin pulled one back for Wasps, Boto restored the Blues lead with a try few fans will quickly forget. Sean Fauth turned the ball over in the Blues’ half and Boto stepped past the Wasps’ defence, including wrong-footing skipper Mark Lock, before sprinting to the tryline.Wasps responded to their surprise deficit with ferocity. They shackled the Blues’ pacey backline, keeping it scoreless for the rest of the match despite continuing enterprising play. On attack, they ruthlessly exploited weaknesses in the Oxford line; tries came from Ireland international Jeremy Staunton, Ali McKenzie and Rob Baxter. The Blues still looked like they could strike back as Boto and Fauth combined but Wasps went in at half time 27-15 ahead. After half time, the visitors’ raw power shone through, as Baxter soon completed his hat trick. Oxford had the best of the last ten minutes, with Jon Fennell and Peter Jenkins hitting Wasps hard, but once again their line held firm.The Blues’ performances are certainly improving. They have moved on from their crushing defeat against Leicester three weeks ago, and the likes of Fennell and Boto are emerging as potential match winners. But they have already lost twice as many matches as they have won, a ratio unlikely to improve against upcoming opponents Harlequins, Tonga and Leinster. The must make full use of the few winnable fixtures remaining to build the compusre and match awareness essential to win close games or, for all their promise, they could come unstuck in the Varsity match.ARCHIVE: 3rd week MT 2005
