WASPS scrum-half Dan Robson has run out of superlatives to describe Jimmy Gopperth after he played a crucial role in their win against Northampton Saints last weekend.
Gopperth came on in the second-half to kick two late penalties after tries from Zach Kibirige and Robson, as well as 10 points from the boot of Jacob Umaga, set Wasps on their way to a 26-20 victory.
Northampton struck through tries from Sam Matavesi, Lewis Ludlam and James Fish with Dan Biggar kicking five points – as Wasps ended the Saints perfect start to the Gallagher Premiership season.
Robson, who dotted down for an important try in the 58th minute at the Coventry Building Society Arena, was full of praise for veteran fly-half Gopperth who continues to defy his years.
Robson said: “I’ve said enough superlatives about Jimmy over his time here – I signed at the same time so we’ve gone through this journey together.
“He’s someone you can trust and when you have those players coming off the bench in big games it shows the strngth in depth we’ve got in the squad.
“He’s one of the hardest workers at the club, he drives training standards in the gym, he’s someone you look up to and want to play with.
“There’s no way I’ll still be going at 38, absolutely not, no way!
“He makes it look easy, he’s a special player and a special bloke.”
Wasps grew into the game after a slow start and Robson was pleased with how his side responded after conceding an early try.
He added: “Northampton have got a big pack and they like to move it as well, we knew defensively we had to be on it – the first 15 minutes we let ourselves down a bit.
“We weren’t quite at the races, we were a little bit off the pace and we made a few mistakes – it took them to score for us to get into the game.
“In times gone past we would have conceded a couple of times in that period, we always felt we were in a good position, we controlled things a lot better in the second-half.
“It’s a good win against a very good Saints side, we were disappointed to concede late on, we’re going in the right direction and we’ve got another big test next week against Exeter.”
The scrum-half also admitted Wasps struggled during training in the week leading up to the clash but felt it was a good learning experience for the squad.
He said: “Last week was pretty frustrating, it was quite gritty and no one managed to get a foothold in the game.
“We didn’t have the best week’s preparation – Wednesday was probably one of the worst session’s we’ve ever had – we made exactly the same mistakes again.
“We took that learning into the game and came out on the right side, the boys were very impressive especially defensively in the second-half.”
Wasps are back in action against Exeter Chiefs on Saturday, October 16 with kick-off at 3pm at the CBS Arena.
