King's boot ends Welsh resistance

Pontypridd 17 Wasps 27 Wasps win 61-36 on agg

Wasps took their unbeaten run to 10 games as they dumped Pontypridd out of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup at Sardis Road last night.

The Londoners took a 15-point advantage to the second leg of their semi-final series against the Welsh side, but did not need any of that tally as they powered their way to a 27-17 victory in the mud and a Cup final against either Saracens or Bath.

Wasps' No 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, his back-row partner Joe Worsley and the England lock Simon Shaw provided the muscle and the kicking of Alex King kept them out of reach of brave but outclassed Pontypridd.

Pontypridd's Gareth Wyatt, for a long time the most underrated winger in Welsh rugby, opened the scoring with a superb try in the eighth minute. He chipped one defender, regathered the ball, chipped another would-be tackler and ripped the ball out of Rob Howley's hands to go over for a memorable score.

Brett Davey's conversion followed, but the Ponty faithful barely had time to regain their seats before the England back-row man Worsley was pushed over by an unstoppable Wasps rolling maul.

Pontypridd's Wales centre Sonny Parker left the field with a suspected broken arm before Wasps' fly-half, Alex King, kicked a 15th-minute penalty to give his side the lead. The full-back Josh Lewsey's opportunistic try three minutes later took the score to 17-7 and Wasps' two-leg lead to a daunting 25 points.

Simon Shaw barged over the try-line and King kept the goals coming, but quick hands in the final minute of the opening half saw Pontypridd's fly-half, Ceri Sweeney, over for a try as Wasps reached halftime with a 24-17 lead. Their prop Craig Dowd was there waiting for them after seeing a yellow card for persistent infringing.

The second half deteriorated in entertainment value as Wasps sat back, but King broke the deadlock with a 67th-minute penalty. That proved to be the only score in a dour 40 minutes of rugby as both coaches cleared their benches.

Pontypridd: Tries G Wyatt, C Sweeney; Conversions Davey 2; Penalty B Davey. Wasps: Tries J Worsley, J Lewsey, S Shaw; Conversions A King 3; Penalties A King 2.

Pontypridd: B Davey (J Lewis, 54); G Wyatt, S Parker (S James, 8), J Bryant, M Nuthall; C Sweeney (N Jenkins, 62), G Baber; G Jenkins (N Hennessy, 83), M Davies (capt) (M Rees, 76), D Bell, B Cockbain, R Sidoli (M Lewis, 56), R Parks, D McIntosh, W O'Connor.

Wasps: J Lewsey; J Rudd, A Erinle, M Denney (S Abbott, 54), K Logan (M van Risbergen, 66); A King, R Howley (M Wood, 40); C Dowd, P Greening (T Leota, 67), W Green (A McKenzie, 67), S Shaw (P Scrivener, 74), R Birkett, J Worsley, L Dallaglio (capt), P Volley (A McKenzie, 40-50; M Lock 74).

Referee: J Dumé (France).