Varndell brace sinks Quins

Wasps kicked off their Guinness Premiership campaign with a 26-15 victory over 14-man Harlequins at Twickenham.

Yet despite the result, it will be the dismissal of Quins lock George Robson just 46 seconds into the London derby that will grab the headlines.

His aimed head-butt at Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson prompted an immediate red card, and from there on Quins were always up against it.

Despite their disadvantage, tries from Ugo Monye and new signing Gonzalo Camacho threatened to inspire the most unlikely of victories.

However, a brace from debutant winger Tom Varndell put Wasps back in charge, and a late penalty try sealed the victory.

Deserved lead

Harlequins came into the match attempting to rebuild their reputation on the field following the 'Bloodgate' saga which has dominated the column inches in the off-season.

But, less than one minute into the new season, Robson became embroiled in an off-the-ball scuffle and aimed a head-butt at Simpson. Ironically-named referee Dean Richards took advice from his assistant before showing a red card.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Will Skinner's men rallied and then took a deserved lead after 10 minutes when David Strettle gathered Nick Evans' cross kick, jinked in from the right wing before sending Monye over for the try.

Wasps hit back five minutes later courtesy of a debut try from Varndell, who started the move with a 50-metre break and then finished it after a darting run and delayed pass from Danny Cipriani.

But any thoughts the Wasps faithful had of a routine win were dispelled immediately when Evans' restart resulted in Danny Care picking out Camacho with a perfectly-weighted cross-kick.

Pressure

Evans converted the try and then landed a penalty to put Quins 15-8 ahead with less than half-an-hour of rugby played.

But Mark van Gisbergen, kicking instead of Cipriani, drew Wasps back into it with a penalty of his own and just before the interval Varndell struck again.

Wasps stole lineout ball on the Quins 22 and switched it wide through Steve Kefu and Ben Jacobs to Varndell, who crashed over the line and managed to force the ball down.

Harlequins continued to battle after the break, however another Van Gisbergen penalty just after the hour kept them at arms length.

Evans missed two penalty shots that would have put his side ahead, but Wasps cranked up the pressure in the closing minutes and won a penalty try from a driving line-out maul which denied Harlequins even a losing bonus point for their brave efforts.