London Wasps have always prided themselves on their contribution to the strength of English rugby and, 24 hours after the national team were so disappointing against Australia, the performances of Simon Shaw and Joe Worsley in this entertaining LV Cup victory at least provided England with alternatives for the rest of the autumn programme.

Indeed, after the paucity of attacking ideas for the home team at Twickenham, it was a relief to watch the sparring of clubs who believe in positive rugby and have the skills — and bottle — to play it.

Toby Booth, the London Irish head coach, praised Jonathan Kaplan, the South African international referee, saying: “If we find it difficult to score tries, so will everyone, but Kaplan refereed the breakdown brilliantly today. If referees ignore people going off their feet and coming in from the side, it is always difficult to play with pace on the ball.”

Both sides blooded younger players amid the smattering of experience and Booth praised Alex Corbisiero, Tom Homer, Jonathon Fisher and Charlie Gower, who laid on Peter Hewat’s second try with a lovely short pass.

The biggest cheer was reserved for Mike Catt’s late appearance before Wasps held on for the win despite finishing the match with 13 men. Shaw, described by Tony Hanks, the Wasps director of rugby, as having “a real spring in his step” after his layoff with a foot injury, was sent to the sin-bin for preventing Peter Richards from playing the ball at a ruck as Irish pressed. Then, when his kick was charged down, Joe Simpson also received a yellow card for pulling back Richards as he tried to reach the loose ball with an unguarded tryline beckoning.

In the end, it was the entertainment that mattered most, plus the 80 minutes that Shaw and Worsley, the Lions, got under their belts. The breaks by Dave Walder and Ben Jacobs that led to the Wasps tries were further highlights in a match that did great credit to both clubs.

Scorers: London Irish: Tries: Hewat 2 (8min, 54). Conversions: Hewat, Lennard. Penalty goals: Hewat (24), Lennard (63). London Wasps: Tries: Lemi (1), Van Gisbergen (38). Conversion: Walder. Penalty goals: Walder 3 (19, 29, 60). Dropped goal: Lemi (75). Scoring sequence (London Irish first): 0-5, 7-5, 7-8, 10-8, 10-11, 10-18 (half-time), 17-18, 17-21, 20-21, 20-24.

London Irish: J Lennard; P Hewat, T Homer, C Gower (rep: M Catt, 64), J Rudd (rep: M Watson, 69); C Malone, P Richards; D Murphy, D Paice (rep: J Buckland, 61), A Corbisiero (rep: M Lahiff, 75), A Perry, G Johnson (rep: M Garvey, 61), K Roche, J Fisher (rep: S Armitage, 78), R Thorpe.
London Wasps: M Van Gisbergen; T Varndell (rep: E Hickey, 68), B Jacobs, L Mitchell, D Lemi; D Walder, W Fury (rep: J Simpson, 58; sin-bin, 80+4); C Beech (rep: G Bocca, 80+3), J Ward, B Baker (rep: B Broster, 49), S Shaw (sin-bin, 80), G Skivington, J Hart, J Worsley, H Ellis (rep: W Matthews, 61).
Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa). Attendance: 10,010.

LV Cup round-up

David Strettle, the Harlequins wing, hopes to be fit to resume training with England this week after suffering a back injury during his side’s 15-15 LV Cup draw against the Scarlets at The Twickenham Stoop yesterday.

Strettle scored the opening try of the game, but was injured in the act. “It was a late drop of the knee after he had scored,” Collin Osbourne, the Harlequins assistant coach, said.

A last-minute penalty from Ceri Sweeney, the Cardiff Blues fly half, condemned Gloucester to a 26-25 defeat at Kingsholm yesterday. The home side had scored two tries in the first 17 minutes from Adam Eustace and Gareth Delve, but Cardiff fought back with tries from Xavier Rush and Sam Norton-Knight, and Sweeney’s boot completed the win.

Saracens continued their winning run with a 30-22 victory at home to Bath, who scored three tries to two, but lost out to Glen Jackson’s six penalty goals and a conversion.