Wasps emerge victorious with second half resurgence

Wasps 25-20 Exeter Chiefs, Ricoh Arena
Scorecard

After being 8-17 down at half-time, Wasps came up with a spirited second-half performance to win their Aviva Premiership encounter against Exeter Chiefs by 25-20 at Ricoh Arena on Sunday.

The game also saw the return of Danny Cipriani into the Wasps outfit since May 2010, but it was Jimmy Gopperth who stole the show scoring 15 points in the game including a try.

Exeter needed just four minutes to open their account with Thomas Waldrom scoring the first try in the game following which a conversion and a penalty from fly-half Henry Slade took Exeter to 10-0 inside the first quarter.

Gopperth responded with a penalty of his own and another try from the 29-year-old in the corner brought Wasps back into the game, reducing the gap to two points. However, scrum-half Will Chudley had other plans as he took Exeter to a nine-point lead at half-time with a converted try.

Another Slade penalty in the second half extended Exeter Chiefs lead to 12 points, but the game changed on its head in the final 30 minutes.

With support from Christian Wade, scrum-half Dan Robson ran a 30-metre unopposed run to score the second try for Wasps and 10 minutes later Tommy Taylor breached the defence of Exeter Chiefs to score another try in the second half.

Gopperth was equally up to the task as he added the conversions for both the tries and later scored a penalty as well to take the scoreline to 25-20 in favour of Wasps.