European Club Rugby : Walder shines as Wasps grind out victory

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Walder shines as Wasps grind out victory

London Wasps	19 - 11	Edinburgh
Adams Park, High Wycombe Att: 7,596
Referee: George Clancy
Sunday 14th December 2008, 13:00
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Match report

Wasps kept their Heineken Cup quarter-final qualification hopes alive with a hard-earned victory at Adams park - now the next stop is Twickenham in the New Year.

Back to back victories over Edinburgh, along with Leinster's surprise defeat by Castres in France at the weekend, means former double champions Wasps are now just three points adrift of the Irish province with the Twickenham showdown in Round 5 set to have a huge bearing on the eventual Pool winner.

"It will be like a mini international - both teams are packed with international," said Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan.

"I am very pleased with the back to back wins because they have put us back in the competition and that is the most important thing of all.

"We knew they would want to make a statement against us today and I thought we handled that pretty well.

"I was delighted with Dave Walder's performance, he defender were well, was 100 per cent with his kicking and attacked the line well for his try."

Walder got the scoring going when he sliced through the Edinburgh defence in the 12th minute for what ultimately proved to be Wasps' only try. He added the conversion but Edinburgh hit back to lead by a point at half time.

Full back Hugo Southwell finished off a flowing attack, albeit aided by some weak Wasps tackling and then Phil Godman added a penalty with the last kick of the half.

Wasps had dominated most the half and will have been disappointed not to have made more of the chances they created.

Three Walder penalty goals came them the cushion of a two-score lead before replacement fly half David Blair added a penalty for the Scots to remind Wasps they still had some work to do.

Walder also had the last word with his fourth penalty to clinch the win and keeps Wasps' interest in the tournament well and truly alive.

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London Wasps

Edinburgh

Pos

Player

Pos

Mark van Gisbergen

Hugo Southwell

Paul Sackey

Mark Robertson

Dom Waldouck

Ben Cairns

Josh Lewsey

Nick De Luca

Tom Voyce

Simon Webster

Dave Walder

Phil Godman

Eoin Reddan

Mike Blair (capt)

Tim Payne

Allan Jacobsen

Rob Webber

Andrew Kelly

Phil Vickery (capt)

Geoff Cross

Simon Shaw

Craig Hamilton

Richard Birkett

Jim Hamilton

Serge Betsen

Scott Newlands

Tom Rees

Alan MacDonald

James Haskell

Allister Hogg

Replacements

Damien Varley

Steve Lawrie

Tom French

Gavin Kerr

George Skivington

Matt Mustchin

Joe Worsley

Simon Cross

Joseph Simpson

Greig Laidlaw

Danny Cipriani

David Blair

Lachlan Mitchell

John Houston

Penalty Tries

First half timeline
11	London Wasps	Try - D Walder
12	London Wasps	Conversion - D Walder
29	Edinburgh	Try - H Southwell
35	London Wasps	Substitution - L Mitchell on for M van Gisbergen
40	Edinburgh	Penalty kick - P Godman
Second half timeline
41	London Wasps	Substitution - D Cipriani on for D Waldouck
42	London Wasps	Penalty kick - D Walder
49	London Wasps	Penalty kick - D Walder
51	London Wasps	Substitution - G Skivington on for R Birkett
52	Edinburgh	Substitution - G Kerr on for G Cross
53	Edinburgh	Substitution - D Blair on for P Godman
59	Edinburgh	Substitution - M Mustchin on for A Hogg
61	London Wasps	Substitution - J Worsley on for S Betsen
63	London Wasps	Penalty kick - D Walder
67	Edinburgh	Penalty kick - D Blair
73	London Wasps	Penalty kick - D Walder
73	London Wasps	Substitution - J Simpson on for E Reddan
73	Edinburgh	Substitution - G Laidlaw on for M Blair
73	Edinburgh	Substitution - J Houston on for N De Luca
73	Edinburgh	Substitution - S Lawrie on for A Kelly
73	Edinburgh	Substitution - S Cross on for A MacDonald

Results so far

London Wasps

Date	Stage	Opposition	Score
25/1/09	Pool 2	Castres Olympique	L 15-21
17/1/09	Pool 2	Leinster	W 19-12
14/12/08	Pool 2	Edinburgh	W 19-11
5/12/08	Pool 2	Edinburgh	W 25-16
18/10/08	Pool 2	Leinster	L 11-41
12/10/08	Pool 2	Castres Olympique	W 25-11

Edinburgh

Date	Stage	Opposition	Score
25/1/09	Pool 2	Leinster	L 3-12
16/1/09	Pool 2	Castres Olympique	W 32-14
14/12/08	Pool 2	London Wasps	L 11-19
5/12/08	Pool 2	London Wasps	L 16-25
18/10/08	Pool 2	Castres Olympique	W 13-6
11/10/08	Pool 2	Leinster	L 16-27

Previous Heineken Cup meetings

Date	Stage	Home	Score	Away
Sun 14th Dec 08	Pool 2	London Wasps	19 - 11	Edinburgh
Fri 5th Dec 08	Pool 2	Edinburgh	16 - 25	London Wasps
Sat 21st Jan 06	Pool 6	London Wasps	53 - 17	Edinburgh Gunners
Sun 23rd Oct 05	Pool 6	Edinburgh Gunners	32 - 31	London Wasps

Heineken CupHistory

London Wasps

2008/09 - Pool 2

2007/08 - Pool 5

2006/07 - Champions

2005/06 - Pool 6

2004/05 - Pool 1

2003/04 - Champions

2001/02 - Pool 2

2000/01 - Pool 2

1999/00 - Quarter Finals

1997/98 - Quarter Finals

1996/97 - Pool D

Edinburgh

2009/10 - Pool 4

2008/09 - Pool 2

2007/08 - Pool 6

2006/07 - Pool 2

2005/06 - Pool 6

2004/05 - Pool 5

2003/04 - Quarter Finals

2002/03 - Pool 5

2001/02 - Pool 3

2000/01 - Pool 1

1999/00 - Pool 6

1998/99 - Pool C

1996/97 - Pool A

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