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A typically hit-and-miss pre-season friendly saw Wasps register four tries in claiming a 26-15 win against European Cup pool one rivals Ulster.

The black-and-golds struck twice in each half to claim a regulation win on a damp night when their defence and scrummaging power caught the eye.

Fly half Danny Cipriani also ran the show to good effect, while new signing Gaby Lovobalavu put in an impressive debut in the No.12 shirt.

The breakdown control exerted by the outstanding Alex Rieder, Jack Willis and the front five was also pleasing, in a match which provided a significantly better test than either of last year’s pre-season warm-ups.

Wasps skipper Ashley Johnson was penalised for a high tackle early on, but Ulster set the tone for the evening by opting for the corner rather than kicking the three easy points on offer.

The black-and-gold defence held firm, however, as it did through most of a scrappy, high-tempo opening 40 minutes.

Lovobalavu showed some nice touches in the first quarter, in particular when his outstanding offload threatened to release another debutant, Marcus Watson, only for the cover defence to scramble the ball to safety.

However, the Fijian No.12 did soon create an excellent opening score with an outside break from which Guy Thompson cut a nice line, before Craig Hampson scampered to the posts.

Cipriani added the conversion, before his opposite number, home fly half Brett Herron eventually opted to kick a penalty from 30 metres to put Ulster on the board.

Better soon followed for the hosts, as second row Pete Browne forced his way over from close range for a score which Herron upgraded after scrum half Paul Marshall’s quickly taken tap.

This gave Ulster a narrow advantage, but with Jake Cooper-Woolley, Rieder and Will Rowlands prominent, Wasps forwards were gaining an edge, as a 15 metre lineout drive showed.

And on the stroke of half-time the visitors provided a repeat performance, which this time produced a try for Simon McIntyre, converted by Cipriani.

The third quarter saw a raft of substitutions from both teams, and also Wasps’ only major defensive error of the evening.

Cipriani was the culprit, missing a one-on-one tackle on home No.8 Nick Timoney, which 60 metres later ended with centre Callum Patterson applying the finishing touch to the easiest of scores which Pete Nelson converted.

Some incisive running from Owain James and Jack Willis soon put Wasps back on the front foot, however, and after Tom Cruse butchered a four-on-one on the right, the pair combined well to send Josh Bassett over for Wasps’ third try.

The visitors then added a fourth score with a slick set move from a midfield scrum, which saw Guy Armitage’s decoy run check the home defence and allow Dan Robson to send Cipriani over for a try which he upgraded.

With 20 minutes remaining and their scrum creaking badly enough to concede five second half penalties, Ulster must have feared the worst. However, their setpiece issues were mirrored by Wasps’ lineout, which coughed up four out of five throws in the final quarter.

This allowed Ulster to create one good scoring chance - which was snuffed out by Christian Wade’s alert defence - before referee Frank Murphy ended a more-than-satisfactory first outing for Dai Young’s men.

Line-Ups:

Ulster: Louis Ludik; Andrew Trimble, Callum Patterson, Stuart McCloskey, Craig Gilroy; Brett Herron, Paul Marshall; Callum Black, John Andrew, Wiehahn Herbst; Pete Browne, Alan O’Connor; Clive Ross, Chris Henry, Nick Timoney.

Replacements - Rob Herring, Adam McBurney, Andrew Warwick, Kyle McCall, Rodney Ah You, Jonny Simpson, Robbie Diack, Jean Deysel, Caleb Montgomery, Matthew Rea, Aaron Cairns, Dave Shanahan, Peter Nelson, Tommy Bowe, Charles Piutau, Jack Owens, David Busby.

Wasps: Rob Miller; Marcus Watson, Brendan Macken, Gaby Lovobalavu, Josh Bassett; Danny Cipriani, Craig Hampson; Simon McIntyre, Ashley Johnson, Jake Cooper-Woolley; Will Rowlands, Kearnan Myall; Jack Willis, Guy Thompson, Alex Rieder.

Replacements - Tom Cruse, Ben Harris, Paul Doran-Jones, Matt Symons, Marcus Garratt, TJ Harris, Dan Robson, Juan De Jongh,

Guy Armitage, Christian Wade, Owain James.

Referee - Frank Murphy

Man of the Match - Alex Rieder

Scorers:

Wasps:

Tries: Hampson, McIntyre, Bassett, Cipriani

Conversions: Cipriani (3)

Ulster:

Tries: Browne, Patterson

Conversion: Nelson

Penalty: Herron

Match Stats (Ulster/Wasps):

Scrums won: 6/2

Scrums lost: 0/0

Lineouts won: 11/12

Lineouts lost: 0/6

Penalties con: 14/10

Yellow cards: 0/0