Haskell red-card proves costly as Harlequins dampen Wasps' European hopes

Harlequins 33-28 Wasps, Twickenham Stoop
Scorecard

A red-card to James Haskell in the closing stage proved costly as James Chisholm scored a last-gasp try to help Harlequins edge out Wasps 33-28 in their European Champions Cup clash at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.

Wasps' chances of making it to the play-off are all but over as they are struck at third in Pool 1 with 12 points while the Quins managed their first victory in the fifth attempt.

Harlequins suffered an early setback in the 15th minute when Lewis Boyce was sin-binned for tackling Ashley Johnson without the ball and Wasps made use of the numerical advantage as they racked up back to back tries coming from Kyle Eastmond (16') and Nizaam Carr (19') while Danny Cipriani slotted two conversions to make it 0-14.

Wasps' third try came in the 30th minute when Johnson touched down and the fly half slotted the extras again to stretch the lead to 0-21. Quins took advantage of a broken field to begin their response, James Lang punting ahead for Ross Chisholm to win the foot race and score.

The match was now finely poised and when Danny Care set-off from a five-metre scrum, delaying his pass for Lang to skip over, the home side were over for a second.

However it was Wasps, who claimed the bonus point when Thomas Young carried into the heart of the defence and with gaps appearing out wide Cipriani was able to send Brendan Macken through a gap to seal the bonus point. The scoreline was 12-28 in favour of Dai Young's side at the end of the third quarter.

Care and Elia Elia provided Harlequins hope with tries in the 65th and 70th minutes respectively while conversions from Marcus Smith brought down the gap to two points but Wasps were dealt a major blow when Haskell was sent-off in the 75th minute for a high tackle on Jamie Roberts and James Chisholm scored the decisive try in the final minute with Smith slotting the conversion to seal a five-point victory.