Ian McGeechan believes the right decision was made in not going for broke against Leinster in the Heineken Cup.
Leinster boss praises his players for impressive fightback
Ian McGeechan believes the right decision was made by Wasps captain Phil Vickery in not going for broke against Leinster in the Heineken Cup.
The Guinness Premiership side moved level with their opponents at the top of Pool Two after a 19-12 victory at Twickenham.
However, it is Leinster who will head into the final round of games as the favourites to finish as group winners.
It could have been different had Vickery opted to kick a late penalty into the corner and go for a try. Instead the prop played safe and ordered Dave Walder to go for the posts.
The decision allowed the visitors to pick up a losing bonus point when a try would have seen them return home to Ireland with nothing.
Wasps must now earn a better result in Castres next weekend than Leinster manage at home to Edinburgh in order to come out on top.
Winning first
"The decision was made on the field. We had been talking about winning first and there is another week's competition to go yet," McGeechan confirmed.
"They were thinking points on board and to make sure we got the win. The other side is, could we have gone for lineout?
"Shaun (Edwards) was keen to but the decision was made. Our first priority had to be winning. We couldn't think about anything else.
"The first half we were playing well and we got the lead. Unfortunately the uncontested scrums then made the game a bit more loose and wishy washy and it lost its structure a bit."
Wasps had raced into a 16-6 lead thanks to Serge Betsen's first-half try and 11 points from Danny Cipriani, only for Leinster to chip away at the deficit.
McGeechan knows it is now likely his side will need a bonus-point success on their travels to make sure of qualification to the knockout stages.
"It is more realistic to say five points gives us the best chance of winning the group - but I would hate to go for five points and get none because you have to look across the pools," Wasps' director of rugby said.
"Our intention is to win the pool - but we have to go to Castres and win first and foremost and see what happens in Dublin."
Destiny
Leinster boss Michael Cheika was impressed with the way his players fought back after conceding 10 points in the opening 15 minutes.
"We got hit early but we stayed on our feet and we got back into it," he said.
"We missed opportunities in the second half which probably cost us. We missed a goal which would have made it 16-15 and Rob Kearney's break, you have to take those opportunities.
"Conversely down the other end we made a game-saving play when Josh Lewsey made a break.
"I am disappointed we lost the game but we are still in charge of our own destiny although if we want to be sure of ourselves we need a bonus point next week."
