Exiles triumph in derby
Sailosi Tagicakibau scored two tries as London Irish ended Wasps' 100 percent record with a 28-16 win.
Last Updated: 28/09/09 4:18pm
Two tries from Sailosi Tagicakibau helped London Irish secure a 28-16 victory against local rivals Wasps.
The result moves the Exiles up to second place in the Guinness Premiership table as Wasps slumped to their first defeat of the season.
Stand-off Ryan Lamb scored with 15 points in another action-packed display from last season's defeated Premiership finalists.
Irish began the day as the league's leading try scorers after producing comprehensive back-to-back victories over Gloucester and Leeds, but Wasps would provide a sterner defence.
Wasps arrived at the Madejski Stadium with a perfect record and although lacking the explosiveness of the Exiles, they showed plenty of ambition.
But despite their best efforts, the visitors' only major score came when referee Dave Pearson awarded a penalty try for Adam Thompstone's illegal tackle on Dominic Waldouck.
The rest of their points came from the boot of Danny Cipriani as Wasps were beaten, leaving Saracens as the only team with a 100 per cent record through four matches.
Clinical
The home side's clinical touch was evident almost immediately when the Exiles crossed the try-line with just two minutes on the clock.
Attempting to collect a chip through, Wasps full-back Lachlan Mitchell hesitated and was forced into touch in goal.
Centre Seilala Mapusua's muscular run then caused confusion in the Wasps defence at the resulting scrum and Irish capitalised, Peter Hewat creating the overlap before feeding Tagicakibau the scoring pass.
Cipriani nailed a long-range penalty, missed two more and then finally added a second from in front of the posts as Wasps began to bring themselves into the game.
The high tempo showed no signs of abating as Lamb ripped the ball from Waldouck and sprinted free with Thompstone and Mapusua continuing a move that was finished off by Lamb's drop goal.
Two penalties from the Exiles' fly-half followed and although kicking was dominating the scoreboard, the match was filled with excitement.
Penalties
Tagicakibau produced another moment of dynamic running when he flew into space before eventually being halted by Mitchell.
Wasps second-row Richard Birkett was sin-binned for killing the ball but Irish could not take advantage of the numerical edge.
Cipriani and Lamb swapped penalties shortly into a second half that came alive when Wasps were denied a certain try because of an illegal tackle from Thompstone.
A quickly-taken line-out fell to Waldouck who drove forward but just as the England prospect was about to gather and score, he was taken out by Thompstone.
Pearson duly signalled the penalty try, which was converted by Cipriani, and sent Thompstone to the sin bin.
But Irish extended their lead to seven points after a long-range drop-goal by Hewat and a penalty from Lamb, tightening the screw with some physical forward play.
And the victory was sealed in the 62nd minute when centre Ben Jacobs saw his pass to Paul Sackey intercepted by Tagicakibau, who raced away for his second try.