Premiership: London Irish 42-42 Wasps - Exiles rescue record-breaking draw

London Irish replacement Henry Arundell scored after a spectacular kick and chase

London Irish came from 25 points down to earn a record-breaking fifth Premiership draw of the season with a last-gasp penalty try against Wasps.

Trailing 39-14 after 67 minutes, Tom Pearson, Henry Arundell and Ollie-Hassell Collins scored before a penalty try was given for a maul infringement.

Wasps had the ball on the hooter when leading but could not find touch.

The result all-but ends the visitors' play-off hopes, with both sides still batting for a Champions Cup place.

It keeps Lee Blackett's side ninth, eight points behind fourth-placed Northampton with two games left, and a point adrift of London Irish with a game in hand.

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Wasps went ahead in the 14th minute with their first venture into the hosts' 22, Gabriel Oghre seeming to get the ball down from a rolling maul.

Pearson's skilful offload led to Kyle Rowe running in to level for the Exiles, who went 14-7 up when Benhard van Rensburg's chip found Hassell-Collins, who in turn fed Tom Parton to dart over.

A see-saw first half ended in favour of the Coventry-based club, Dan Robson the orchestrator as he whipped a pass for Francois Hougaard to slide in for a try before finding the blindside run of Charlie Atkinson for a further score.

And when Malakai Fekitoa drew his man and found Hougaard to jog in for his second, and Josh Bassett cleverly delayed his pass before passing to Zach Kibirige for an easy finish, it looked like Wasps were strolling to a bonus-point win in West London.

However, Pearson led the Irish driving maul over for a try and the introduction of 19-year-old Arundell, in front of watching England head coach Eddie Jones, changed the game.

First, the full-back pulled off an excellent kick and chase, getting the better of a collision with Charlie Atkinson to run through and score, before showing composure to find Hassell-Collins, who went over to put the hosts within four points.

When Jacob Umaga converted a penalty in the final minute to put Wasps 42-35 up, and the hosts failed to win the ball from the restart, it looked like the comeback would fall short.

But Wasps could not get the ball out of play and Irish had momentum, with a maul rolling to the try-line when Joe Launchbury collapsed it.

After deliberation with the TMO, a penalty try was given to level and scores and end a frantic finale - rounding off a fine week for the Exiles, having reached the Premiership Rugby Cup final in midweek.

Both sides will now turn attention to their Challenge Cup quarter-final ties next weekend, with Wasps at Edinburgh and Irish in Toulon.

Wasps boss Lee Blackett:

"It feels like walking away with a heavy loss and not collecting three valuable points in a tough fixture away from home.

"I'm gutted because I thought I would be describing some terrific efforts from some of our players as they put in a massive effort for the first 65 minutes.

"We had managed the game superbly and were in total control, but then we became sloppy and every bounce of the ball went their way.

"I don't regret taking certain players off as we believed that we had sufficient strength to see out the game.

"Behind Northampton's result on Friday, I thought we had a good chance of making the play-offs, when they won I thought we had a faint chance. Now it's extremely difficult but we will keep going."

Irish's director of rugby Declan Kidney:

"You can't coach it, but the boys have a massive desire to fight to the end and I thought we had a squad that would finish well.

"We didn't take our chances in the first 20 minutes as we had four entries in their 22 but came away with nothing.

"In the middle third of the game, we lost our way and with five minutes to go, I would have bitten your hand off if you had offered me a draw.

"The fans will have gone away in a state of euphoria, which is good, but we will have learned a lot from that and, as coaches, we will have to assess the whole 80 minutes."

London Irish: Parton; Rowe, Rona, Van Rensburg, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Phipps; Goodrick-Clarke, Creevy, Hoskins, Nott, Simmons, Rogerson (capt), Pearson, O'Brien.

Replacements: Cornish, Gigena, Parker, Mafi, Tuisue, White, Joseph, Arundell.

Wasps: Kibirige; Hougaard, Fekitoa, Gopperth, Bassett; Atkinson, Robson; West, Oghre, Alo, Launchbury (capt), Stooke, Shields, J Willis, T Willis.

Replacements: Frost, Harris, Millar-Mills, Gaskell, Young, Porter, Umaga, Odogwu.

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