Young counts cost of Wasps' win over Exeter

LONDON: Wasps coach Dai Young was left counting the cost of a bruising 13-7 win over Exeter in the English Premiership on Sunday that saw four members of his side, including playmaker Danny Cipriani, all leave the field injured.

Cipriani was joined on a second-half casualty list by team-mates Marcus Watson, Alex Rieder and Jack Willis as Wasps, beaten by Exeter in last season's Premiership final, came out on top this time.

Watson scored their only try, a score converted by former England international Cipriani, with Jimmy Gopperth kicking two penalties for Wasps' other points.

"It was a real arm wrestle but we matched them physically and just did enough to win," said Young.

"We were very good last week by winning with 14 men against the Quins and we knew we had to back it up today," the former Wales and British and Irish Lions front-row added.

"We bombed a few chances but it was a great win for us and a big tick in the box."

But there was no getting away from Wasps' injury toll.

"We had a lot of injuries early on in the season but I thought we were out of the other side on that front so to lose four today was a real dampener," said Young.

"Danny has a twinge in his Achilles and we took him off as a precaution, Jack Willis had a bang on the shoulder after having a similar one last week so that's a collision injury and Marcus Watson should be OK as he has just rolled his ankle.

"However, Alex Rieder's leg injury looks a nasty one and he has gone for a scan. It's not looking good and I feel for him as he has worked his socks off to come back and he is a real character in our squad."

This was Exeter's second successive defeat following last week's surprise 6-5 loss at home to Worcester but coach Rob Baxter said his side, on the scoreboard through Luke Cowan-Dicke's converted try, had produced a much-improved performance.

"I'm a lot more OK with today than last week as our foundations were there but we weren't clinical enough," Baxter explained.

"Dave Ewers was well over the line but couldn't get the ball down so it's fine margins between winning and losing but I believe we are back on an upward curve."