Contepomi concedes decisive late penalty

A referee from the highly civilised garden of England, albeit a professional one, may not be ideally suited to sorting out who does what to whom in the impenetrable jungle that passes for Premiership rugby, but Mr Roy Maybank, of Kent, is not slow to blow his whistle in the direction of whoever happens to catch his eye. And to be sure, few players are more eye-catching than Felipe Contepomi.

The Argentinian outside-half scored 30 points yesterday in a display of considerable virtuosity, only to lose the game for Bristol by conceding a penalty try at the final ruck. C'est la vie, as they rarely say in Buenos Aires.

"There isn't a God, then," grumbled Peter Thorburn, the Bristol coach. There is, according to his fellow New Zealander and opposite number, Warren Gatland. "Somebody up there likes us," he beamed.

Despite committing 17 penalty offences to go with the 26 they had rattled up at Newcastle the previous weekend, Wasps hit the bull's-eye with the one that really mattered. Maybank seemed determined to decide the game one way or the other, and he did so in favour of the home side on their first meaningful appearance at their new home in High Wycombe when Contepomi sneaked around the side of a pile-up in pursuit of a ball he felt was up for grabs.

In fairness to a hard-pressed official, Bristol had been repeatedly warned as to their conduct as the endless minutes of injury time ticked down. They were desperately unlucky all the same, not just because their loose forward, Matt Salter, was chinned at least five times at what will forever be known as "the Contepomi ruck", but because they would have been home and dry but for some Maybank pedantry at the preceding scrum.

"He did us for kicking the ball back in," said Thorburn, with a forlorn shake of the head. They could easily do that three times a game for the rest of the season, and not be caught once.

Wasps drew a first-up crowd of more than 7,000 to this quiet corner of Buckinghamshire, and Maybank's whistle apart, there were fireworks to be to be enjoyed. The pyrotechnical pièce de resistance was contributed by the human Catherine Wheel himself, Trevor Leota, who poleaxed the visiting captain, Ross Beattie, with the kind of tackle that will one day be patented by Hollywood.

Beattie should have seen him coming, given that the Samoan's extraordinary haircut gives him the appearance of an omelette on legs, but for some reason, he was looking the other way. He continued for 10 minutes, but was clearly away with the fairies and did not return to the field for the second half.

Those spectators who prefer traditional rugby skills to Leota's south-seas form of kung fu also had their money's worth, what with Contepomi's brilliance and the threatening running of Rob Howley and Josh Lewsey. The lead changed nine times: Bristol led 17-8 at one point, only to see the Londoners reel them in with excellent tries from Stuart Abbott and Lawrence Dallaglio either side of the interval. "I thought we were the ones who looked like scoring," Gatland said. "In that regard, I think we deserved the win."

For all that, Gatland will have some hard words for his forwards – Richard Birkett and Paul Volley in particular – when they report for duty some time tomorrow. "Some of the penalties we conceded through late hits in good positions were pretty dumb," he continued, "and the players concerned might find themselves on the bench next week. It's the only way they'll learn."

Contepomi is learning the hard way, too. Some of his game-shaping work was of the highest order: he made a beautiful break to create an opening try for Lee Best, showed excellent pace to run in an interception from 60 metres and kept his nerve admirably under pressure. No coach on earth, least of all a wily old bird like Thorburn, would dream of blaming him for this defeat. But Contepomi will blame himself, He went the extra mile for his club yesterday, but finished by going a yard to far.

Wasps: Tries Leota, Abbott, Dallaglio; Penalty try; Conversions; King 3; Penalties; King 4. Bristol: Tries Best, Contepomi; Conversions Contepomi 2; Penalties Contepomi 7.

Wasps: J Lewsey; S Roiser, S Abbott W Wigram, 73), M Denney, K Logan; A King, R Howley; D Molloy (C Dowd, 58), T Leota (P Greening, 58), W Green, S Shaw, R Birkett, J Worsley, P Volley, L Dallaglio (capt).

Bristol: L Best; B Daniel, D Rees, M Shaw, P Christophers; F Contepomi, A Pichot; D Crompton (P Johnstone, 64), S Nelson, J White (E Bergamaschi, 64), G Archer, A Brown (A Sheridan, 71), B Sturnham, M Lipman, R Beattie (capt; M Salter, 40).

Referee: R Maybank (Kent).