By the time Danny Cipriani jogged on to the pitch at High Wycombe yesterday his team-mates had done their best to make his presence as inconspicuous as possible. But once Wasps had picked him for their bench, after Brian Ashton axed him from the England squad for nipping into a nightclub to pass Calcutta Cup tickets to a friend, and he popped out to practise his place kicking before the start, the cameras were trained on the 20-year-old.
It was his stand-in at fly-half, Dave Walder, who took the opportunity to shine, garnering 19 points from four penalties, two conversions and a drop-goal as Wasps moved up one place to seventh in the table. Cipriani was finally brought on for the last quarter of the match at full-back, the position he would have taken up at Murrayfield on Saturday.
"When he has got rugby kit on, he has got a lot to offer," added the club's director of rugby, Ian McGeechan. "He has handled everything very well. To take what is effectively a first cap away from a player is a big call. I'm not condoning anything but it could have been handled differently. We back the players off the field and we back the players on it."
As Harlequins attacked in the final minutes, Cipriani's contribution of note was a last-ditch tackle on Danny Care. His team-mates could not prevent Tom Guest's follow-up drive, however, and the No8's score brought Harlequins back to 29-25. Quins, who have dropped to sixth despite a loser's bonus point, eschewed two more kickable penalties to put the ball into the corner but their director of rugby, Dean Richards, refused to criticise. "We had already scored three tries, the bonus point was almost in the bag - we were going for broke for the win," he said.
He was keen to point out how Harlequins recovered after shipping 16 points in the 10 minutes before half- time, the pick of which was Walder's step and offload to Dominic Waldouck, who cut in on a delightful angle for Wasps' second try, following one by Raphaël Ibanez.
After the break, though, Quins worked to overturn a 23-10 deficit with more aggression. Adrian Jarvis, whose cross-field kick had set up Hal Luscombe for a try in the first half, swapped penalties with Walder and Quins then got back into the game. Luscombe released Ugo Monye and the winger pirouetted out of two tackles on his own 10-metre line, before flashing through the hole in defence and arcing outside Josh Lewsey to the left corner.
Cipriani came on for his cameo but the fact that Wasps held out for the win was of greater significance to the club as they seek a top-four place. "Some of the rugby we played in the first half today was outstanding," added McGeechan. "It was a massive win for us."
London Wasps Lewsey; Van Gisbergen (Cipriani, 62), Waldouck, Flutey (Waters, 62), Doherty; Walder, McMillan; Payne, Ibanez (Ward, 61), French, Skivington, Palmer, Hart (Leo, 73), Worsley (Webber, 68), Dallaglio (capt).
Tries Ibanez, Waldouck. Cons Walder 2. Pens Walder 4. Drop- goal Walder.
Harlequins Brown; Williams (De Wet Barry, 32), Luscombe, Masson, Monye; Jarvis (Malone, 54), Care; Jones, Fuga (Brooker, 72), Ross, Percival, Spanghero (Robson, 54), Robshaw, Skinner (capt), Guest.
Tries Luscombe, Monye, Guest. Cons Jarvis, Malone. Pens Jarvis 2.
Referee A Small (London). Attendance 10,000.
