Derby draw at Twickenham

Impressive exhibition from place-kickers

Last updated: 5th September 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Derby draw at Twickenham

Van Gisbergen: seven kicks

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Twickenham witnessed an opening day thriller as Wasps and Harlequins shared 58 points in the London derby.

Mark Van Gisbergen and Nick Evans kicked seven kicks apiece, but it was Wasps full-back Van Gisbergen who kept his nerve when presented with a kick to save the game four minutes from time.

Andy Powell, on his debut, and Tom Varndell had crossed for first-half tries for Wasps, while Quins' tries came through Nick Easter and Mike Brown.

Harlequins were first out of the blocks in front of a 75,000 crowd when former New Zealand fly-half Evans eluded a challenge by Simon Shaw and set up support-runner Easter for the game's opening try after only two minutes and Evans converted.

But when Van Gisbergen posted his first penalty of the afternoon, Evans replied in kind and they then engaged in a tit-for-tat kicking exhibition.

Wales back-row Powell crossed for a try of quality after 23 minutes, finishing off a move also involving Varndell and captain Tom Rees.

Van Gisbergen's conversion hauled Wasps level at 13-13, and they then stormed ahead when Riki Flutey, playing his first game back since spending a season with Brive, broke the line, took the hit while off-loading superbly for Varndell to score his 52nd Premiership try.

Another Van Gisbergen conversion edged Wasps further ahead before the accurate Evans punished a sloppy offside with a penalty.

Battle

Once again, however, the battle of the kickers continued with Van Gisbergen ending the half with a goal to reward his team's efforts.

Wasps thought they had survived some fierce Quins pressure, only for Danny Care to scrag Australian debutant Nic Berry at the scrum, and Wasps conceded a penalty which was boomed over by Evans.

Van Gisbergen's sixth successful kick edged Wasps further ahead after 51 minutes at which stage Quins lost patience with their struggling front row and rolled out the changes.

Quins launched another siege, but Wasps were content to concede a raft of penalties before referee White lost patience and handed Evans the opportunity to kick his sixth goal.

As Wasps back-tracked, centres Jordan Turner-Hall and George Lowe combined just inside the Wasps 22, and the finish was delivered wide left by full-back Brown, who evaded two would-be tacklers to score behind the posts.

The conversion by Evans moved Quins into the driving-seat with 14 minutes remaining and set up a gripping finale.

Wasps won a crucial scrum just outside the Quins 22, but the expected surge did not materialise as the new-look front row held their ground and turned the ball over.

What Quins failed to do was secure the clearance and finished up fighting to keep Wasps out, a battle that ended with an offside challenge.

And Van Gisbergen made no mistake with his seventh goal of the game.