London Wasps Win Thriller.

Wasps advanced to their first Heineken Cup final
with a thrilling 37-32 win over Munster at Lansdowne Road.
Wasps, coached by former Ireland chief Warren Gatland, will now
face
defending champions Toulouse in the final at Twickenham on May 23.
The result added to Munster’s European Cup misery – this was their
fifth
successive European Cup semi-final but they have yet to win the
trophy.
English champions Wasps had to overcome a 10-point deficit midway
through
the second half but rallied and won a dramatic match when Samoa
hooker Tervor
Leota went over in the closing stages for their fifth try.
Wasps and England captain Lawrence Dallaglio said: “This game
had courage,
passion, skill, everything… It was a great game of rugby.”
Meanwhile New Zealander Gatland said: “I can’t take the
smile off my face.
“I thought the team showed great character. Not many teams
come back from a
10-point deficit against Munster.
“I was very concerned at 32-22 behind. But this group of
players just has
such a great work ethic and we didn’t want to leave this behind
us.”
Munster’s Australian coach Alan Gaffney said losing Ireland
fly-half Ronan
O’Gara on the half-hour mark was an “enormous loss to us”.
He added: “Ronan’s kicking game might have closed the game
down for us.
Wasps are a very good side but we missed too many first-up tackles
and allowed
them to gain momentum.”
But Munster skipper and former Wallaby back-row Jim Williams said:
“We’ve
only got ourselves to blame. We talked about discipline and field
position
before the game but we let them (Wasps) back into it.”
An action-packed first-half half ended with Wasps two points up at
17-15
but a man down after England flanker Joe Worsley was yellow carded
for killing
the ball in the 34th minute.
O’Gara gave Munster the lead in the opening minute with the first
of three
penalties.
Wasps responded three minutes later when Richard Birkett won a
lineout, the
ball was worked across field and England wing Josh Lewsey crossed and
fly-half
Alex King converted.
King and O’Gara added to the penalty tally before O’Gara departed.
Then came Worsley’s sin-binning and O’Gara’s replacement, Jason
Holland,
landed the resulting penalty to leave Munster 12-10 up.
However, minutes later, Holland went from hero to villain when his
clearance kick was charged down by former Wales scrum-half Rob Howley.
The number nine, who almost got over the line himself, instead fed
flanker
Paul Volley for an opportunist try.
But Holland’s second penalty on the stroke of half-time reduced
the gap to
17-15 in Wasps’ favour.
Wasps though caught Munster cold at the start of the second half
with a
well-worked try.
Left-wing Tom Voyce scythed his way crossfield through the Munster
defence
before full-back Mark van Gisbergen dived over in the right corner.
Williams went to the video referee who confirmed the score and
although
King missed the touchline conversion, Wasps seemingly had breathing
space at
22-15.
Worsley returned with his side in the lead before Holland’s third
penalty
reduced the gap to 22-18.
Wasps then had a second-player sin-binned when, in the 51st
minute, centre
Fraser Waters was ordered off.
And Munster then turned the game on its head with two tries in as
many
minutes.
In the 59th minute, following flanker Stephen Keogh’s break, No.8
Anthony
Foley went over for a try.
Holland landed a superb touchline conversion and Munster were
25-22 ahead.
The crowd went even more noisy when, following Holland’s superb
grubber
kick, Munster won the ball and skipper Williams was driven over.
Holland added the extras to put Munster 10 points in front at
32-22 with 20
minutes left.
But Wasps refused to yield and King’s penalty in the 67th minute
closed the
gap.
And Wasps’ recovery continued when, with Munster down to 13 men
following
the sin-binnings of Donncha O’Callaghan and former Wasp Rob
Henderson, Voyce
crossed for a try.
King’s conversion tied the game at 32-32 with barely six minutes
remaining
before Leota powered over to give Wasps the edge.