European bonus for Wasps
Wasps secured a home quarter-final in the Amlin Challenge Cup with a 36-13 victory over French side Bordeaux-Begles.
Last Updated: 22/01/12 5:57pm
Wasps secured a home quarter-final in the Amlin Challenge Cup with a 36-13 victory over French side Bordeaux-Begles.
The Aviva Premiership club notched four tries to claim the extra bonus point and finish top of Pool Three, setting up a tie with Biarritz - who come down from the Heineken Cup - in the next round.
Elliott Daly, Matt Everard, Tom Lindsay and a penalty try proved enough for the 2003 winners to progress at the expense of Bayonne.
They did have to battle back from the early setback of conceding a try, though in truth the visitors never looked likely of causing an upset.
Interception
The French side, who are 9th in the Top 14 table, made the perfect start when they opened the scoring with an interception score after only six minutes.
Wing Vunga Lilo took full advantage of the visitors' aggressive defence to stun the home crowd, with Camille Lopez adding the conversion.
However, Wasps responded impressively, crossing for the first time after 17 minutes when Daly showed impressive pace and footwork to run in from 30 metres out.
Fly-half Ryan Davis, who had missed an early penalty and the conversion attempt, finally found his kicking boots to slot over a penalty and give the home side an 8-7 lead midway through the first half.
Flanker Everard crashed over from short range after some good work by scrum-half Joe Simpson, giving Wasps a 13-7 lead at the interval.
Within three
Fly-half Lopez slotted over a penalty to claw Bordeaux-Begles back to within three points just after the break before Davis replied for Wasps.
Full back Laurent Ferreres then landed a mammoth 55-metre penalty but a pair of efforts from Davis made it 22-13 midway through the second half.
Wasps were then awarded a penalty try as visiting number eight Hugh Chalmers was yellow-carded in the 72nd minute after repeated infringements by his pack.
Davis added the conversion, making it 27-13, and the bonus point was secured when prop Lindsay touched down in the dying moments.
Bayonne, meanwhile, end up second in the group, despite losing just one of their six matches, after they rounded out their campaign with a 92-6 hammering of whipping boys Rovigo.
