Late summer it may be but Wasps' sting is as potent as it was at the end of last season. They comfortably and confidently eased their way past Llanelli to win the inaugural Anglo-Celtic Challenge and lay down their marker for the coming campaign.
The Challenge is scheduled to become a regular pre-season fixture, alternating between England and the home of the Celtic champions, but neither side was at full strength, which did not deter a crowd of 7,000.
Wasps, looking to add a third trophy to the Heineken Cup and the Premiership they secured last May, were missing seven regulars while the Scarlets had to do without five, including their new captain Simon Easterby, though Scott Quinnell was over a perforated eardrum sustained when he jumped into a swimming pool.
Despite the fact that a trophy was being played for, the match was not classified as competitive, so Matt Dawson and Lawrence Dallaglio were free to start and the Ireland flanker Easterby was allowed to come on as a second-half replacement, but at no stage could the contest be billed as the best of British and Irish.
Wasps were markedly superior in the first half, leading 15-3 at the break with tries from their centres Peter Richards and Ayoola Erinle, and it was only when the double champions took off their flankers Jonny O'Connor and Joe Worsley at the start of the second period, along with the substitution of the prop Will Green, that the Scarlets gained the ascendancy.
Llanelli took the lead with opportunist tries by the scrum-half Mike Phillips and the wing Aisea Havili but their relative inactivity in the summer transfer market despite a squad full of veterans may see them overtaken as Wales's premier side in the Heineken Cup this season
They missed the controlling influence of the Wales outside-half Stephen Jones, who has joined Clermont Ferrand, and they capitulated alarmingly in the final 15 minutes when Wasps tightened up their game and became more muscular, winning the contest with a stunningly simple try by the wing Tom Voyce after Phillips had been sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul.
Llanelli Scarlets: Evans; Havili, Taylor, Finau, R Rees (Watkins, h-t); Bowen (capt; A Thomas, h-t;), Phillips; I Thomas, M Rees, Thiel (Davies, 77), Cooper, Jones, Powell (McDonald, 73), G Thomas, Quinnell (Easterby, h-t).
Tries: Phillips, Havili. Cons: Bowen 2. Pen: Bowen.
Sin-bin: Phillips.
Wasps: Van Gisbergen; Lewsey (Priscott, h-t), Erinle, Richards (Wellwood, 77), Voyce; Brooks (Thrower, 77) Dawson (Fury, 54); Payne, Leota (Gotting, 69), Green (Nwume, h-t), Skivington, Birkett (Hart, 77), Worsley (Lock, h-t), O'Connor (Haskell, h-t), Dallaglio (capt).
Tries: Richards, Erinle, Voyce. Con: Van Gisbergen. Pen: Van Gisbergen.
Referee: A Rolland (Ireland). Att: 6,754.
