Dallaglio injury overshadows Wasps win

Miserable weather and a miserable match piled up the woes not only for Northampton but, more significantly, for England. Neither Lawrence Dallaglio nor Matt Dawson was able to finish this low quality Zurich Premiership game.

Dallaglio's injury is potentially the more serious: he could well miss England's Six Nations' Championship opener against France at Twickenham in 12 days' time after "popping" a shoulder joint.

But afterwards Dallaglio described the injury as "superficial", and he added: "It will keep me out of training for a couple of days. I will join the England squad tomorrow. I'd like to think it will settle down. It is only an impact injury, not wear and tear. I know some coaches don't pick players if they're not 100 per cent fit, but I'd like to play for Wasps next week against London Irish."

The scrum-half Dawson received a blow under an eye which impaired his vision, but is more likely to recover in time. Neither player missed a great deal after leaving proceedings. Mind you, not a great deal had gone on before.

That Wasps scored the first try – a brutal barge-over by the cube-shaped Trevor Leota, the Samoan hooker – was a reflection of the edge they held over their opponents in the scrappy first half.

That the home side did not concede a try themselves was down to some sterling defence after the interval, when Northampton finally woke up, but far too late to turn things around. Saints, usually so potent out wide with the likes of the England wing Ben Cohen and their full-back Nick Beal, were out of sorts. And the Northampton coach, Wayne Smith, was less than pleased with both his side's under-performance and the tardy announcement that the kick-off had been put back by 15 minutes because of public transport problems.

"We got here too early and then the game was set back and we didn't know until we had done our warm-up, which really annoyed me," Smith said. "The least they could have done was to have told us earlier. I don't know if that is gamesmanship or what, but it certainly didn't help us."

Warren Gatland, Wasps' director of rugby and like Smith a New Zealander, denied there had been a deliberate policy to suppress the information about the delayed kick-off.

"I think notification of the delay was up to the safety officer at the ground," he explained. "We were told about the delay at 2.30pm and I thought that message was relayed to Northampton at the same time."

The visitors lacked focus and no real sense of purpose until very late in the game. Even then, as the game lumbered into a sixth minute of added time, they could not prevent Wasps from breaking out and working the fly-half Alex King into a position for him to attempt a drop goal. As the ball sailed over, from fully 40 metres out, referee Roy Maybank blew his whistle for the final time.

Victory keeps Wasps in the top five and Saints did clutch at some consolation as Smith said: "Thankfully we got a bonus point and they didn't."

Wasps: Try Leota; Conversion King; Penalties King 2; Drop Goal King. Northampton: Penalties Grayson 3.

Wasps: M Van Gisbergen; J Rudd (J Lewsey, 61), F Waters, S Abbott, K Logan; A King, R Howley; C Dowd, T Leota, W Green, S Shaw, R Birkett, J Worsley, L Dallaglio (capt; P Scrivener, 74), P Volley.

Northampton: N Beal; B Reihana (M Tucker, 76), P Jorgensen, J Leslie (capt), B Cohen; P Grayson (J Brooks, 66), M Dawson (I Vass, 61); T Smith (C Budgen, 64-77), S Thompson (D (Richmond, 59), M Stewart, S Williams (C Budgen, 49-59 & R Hunter, 72), M Lord, G Seely, M Connors, B Pountney.

Referee: R Maybank (Orpington).