Leeds woes worsen at Wasps

Simpson scored twice during Wasps' comprehensive win

Leeds' hopes of Premiership survival suffered a blow with a 51-18 thrashing by Wasps at Adams Park on Sunday.

Wasps ran in seven tries to end a three-game losing run in all competitions and leave Leeds rooted to the bottom of the table with just two games to go.

Leeds began brightly but they were no match for the hosts as the game wore on, with Richard Haughton and Joe Simpson each picking up a brace of tries.

Wasps' opening score came after just three minutes when Luther Burrell lost possession in the tackle and Haughton was able to hack ahead.

The chasing Simpson hacked on again and raced in to touch down, but David Walder was unable to add the conversion.

Leeds pulled three back five minutes later with a straightforward penalty from Adrian Jarvis when the visitors were rewarded for some pressure in the Wasps 22.

Sin-binned

But Leeds were reduced to 14 men when Michael Stephenson was sin-binned for killing the ball near the Leeds line and Walder struck the penalty to make it 8-3 after 31 minutes.

Jarvis reduced the arrears five minutes before the break with a 30-metre penalty, but Walder cancelled out the points three minutes later.

Haughton crossed in the corner for his first on the stroke of half-time after Walder had kicked ahead.

But the fly-half, making his final appearance at Adams Park, missed the conversion to leave Wasps 16-6 ahead at the interval.

Five minutes after the restart another error saw Leeds lose possession again inside their own half and Ben Broster hacked on for Haughton to collect and score. This time Walder was on target with the conversion.

Wasps' fourth try came after 53 minutes when replacement hooker Joe Ward drove over from close range. Walder added two more to take the score to 30-6.

Battered

The hosts struck again almost immediately, Simpson racing away from the Leeds defence for a superb try after being fed from a midfield line out.

Rhys Oakley pulled a try back on 68 minutes for the visitors and Jarvis converted.

But Wasps replacements Billy Vunipola and Zak Taulafo both battered their way over for late scores, the first converted by Walder and the second by his replacement Mark Atkinson.

Christian Lewis-Pratt picked up a consolation try for Carnegie with a strong running solo effort with the last move of the game, but it was too late for the Yorkshiremen.