Sunday 18 January 2015 08:06, UK
Wasps boss Dai Young was full of praise for captain James Haskell after the England man produced a superb performance during the 23-3 Champions Cup win over Harlequins at the Stoop.
Young’s team looked out of the reckoning in terms of qualification from the group but they will now face a winner-takes-all match against Leinster in Coventry next Saturday after this stunning win followed a pair of bonus point victories over Castres.
Wasps led Quins 17-0 thanks to early tries from Christian Wade and Joe Simpson but the hosts dominated the remainder of the match in terms of possession and territory.
However, although Wasps lost Nathan Hughes to the sin-bin at one point, Quins were restricted to one Ben Botica penalty as Haskell led a superb defensive effort.
"I thought he was outstanding," said Young. "I don't think he's had a bad game for us for a while.
“He probably covered every blade of grass and his tackle count must have been right up there.
"I don't think there was a bad performance from any of our players out there tonight.
“We didn't have the ball for large periods of the game and we didn't have enough possession in the right areas but our defence won us that game. Our shape, as always, was pretty decent against a very good attacking team."
Regarding possible qualification, Young added: “We put ourselves under a lot of pressure early on but we certainly have a lot of belief in our squad.
"I think the first game against Castres, we knew we had to get a bonus point win. We felt we could back it up again and then come here and get a result. There's always close games between both our sides.
"We knew there was no reason why we couldn't come here and win and it's really exciting bringing Leinster to the Ricoh Stadium next week. We're hoping for somewhere near a full house.
“The boys are all ready and really excited about it. It's a nice place for us to be, going into the last round with a realistic chance of going through."
Harlequins director of rugby Conor O'Shea said: “I think it would be safe to say that the scoreline was slightly unfair on us tonight but it is what it is, and you just move on and get ready for next week."
"We'll just have to make sure we do what we need to do out in Castres if we can, because it's a tough place to go."
