A triumph for London Irish and a triumph for the groundsman. On Friday, the pitch had resembled a boating lake, on Saturday the surface was not only good enough to play rugby, the going was firm enough for thoroughbred full-backs Elliot Daly and James O'Connor to speed across the turf.
Irish had won on Saracens' artificial surface a week earlier and defeated Wasps on a pitch that is a mixture of real and artificial grass, on a surprisingly benign day in the Home Counties. It was not too benign on the pitch, though. The visitors had to play the last half hour with 14 men after the former Ireland scrum-half Tomas O'Leary was sent off for stamping.
"I have not seen the red card close up," said Brian Smith, the Irish director of rugby, "but what I would say is there was a fair bit of tap-dancing from half-backs in the ruck area during the game."
The Wasps director of rugby, Dai Young, said: "Obviously, it looked like a red card but we all know the player and it was reckless rather than vicious."
Irish dug in for what became an attritional game after the break and squeezed another win when the centre Shane Geraghty landed a drop goal with six minutes remaining. It was an especially sweet afternoon for the Irish captain, George Skivington, against one of his former clubs. The lock had been immense in the win at Saracens and he was just as effective here.
Irish, under new ownership, look to be going places again. They blew up a little storm of their own early on, swiftly racing into a 10-point lead. There were barely five minutes on the clock when the Exiles' lock Nic Rouse charged down a clearing kick by Daly and Ian Humphreys plunged over for the first try. O'Connor landed the conversion and a penalty, and Wasps, who had beaten Irish twice already this season, knew they had a game on their hands.
After Joe Carlisle had converted a long-distance penalty for Wasps, Irish stretched their lead. A couple of drives by their pack were repelled and the TV match official, Rowan Kitt, turned down appeals for a try – but after the Irish No8, Ofisa Treviranus, was stopped by determined defence, David Paice forced his way over.
The TMO was in action again, once more ruling in Wasps' favour. After Daly had made a break from his own half to gain some territory, Andrea Masi kicked to the corner and Kitt ruled that James Short had just got his fingertips to the ball before it crossed the deadball line.
It was the TMO's third intervention that looked to have turned the game Wasps' way. He drew the attention of the referee, Tim Wigglesworth, to O'Leary's stamp on James Haskell at the back of a ruck close to the home 22, and out came the red card. Carlisle converted two more penalties and Irish began to look wobbly.
Carlisle's penalties helped Wasps draw level with a quarter of an hour remaining before the Irish pack rumbled forward to give Geraghty his shot at glory.
