WASPS 26, HARLEQUINS 15

YOU could not make this up. Harlequins woke up yesterday hoping the dawn of a new season would draw a line under Bloodgate.

Surely the shattered reputation of this once great club could not take any more of a battering after a summer of scandal and humiliating revelations.

Think again.

After being booed on to the field by the majority of the 67,684-strong Twickenham crowd, Quins managed just 46 seconds of play before lock George Robson was sent off for headbutting Joe Simpson.

His act of savagery left blood streaming from Simpson's nose. At least it was real blood.

Simpson said: "It was all a bit of a blur. I'm still a bit dazed now.

"He said sorry after the match but I'm still pretty frustrated by what happened."

Robson now faces a minimum six-week ban - mercifully brief by Quins' recent standards.

To add insult to injury, it was Dean Richards who brandished the card.

Not their shamed ex-boss exposed as a liar by the sordid Bloodgate affair but referee Dean Richards, appointed for this game by a rugby bigwig with a cruel sense of irony.

Robson should hang his head in shame for the ridiculously impetuous challenge that robbed his side of any realistic chance of victory.

Once he had disappeared down the tunnel, Quins actually produced some high-class rugby.

Winger Ugo Monye and Argentinian debutant Gonzalo Camacho both crossed as 14-man Quins put up a fight.

And if fly-half Nick Evans had brought his kicking boots with him, Quins might have pulled off a dramatic win.

But Robson's absence took its toll as Danny Cipriani put last season's nightmare behind him by pulling the strings for Wasps at No 10.

Tom Varndell also displayed his electric pace with a brace of first-half tries.

The former Leicester winger has endured a difficult four years since being prematurely thrust into an England shirt.

But, yesterday, he produced a display of running rugby that left Wasps head coach Shaun Edwards purring.

Two late misses by Evans compounded Quins' woes and a late penalty try rubbed salt in the rawest of wounds.

On this evidence, they will take some time to heal.

Quins director of rugby John Kingson said: "I'm going to do an Arsene Wenger and not make a comment.

"But George is upset and has said sorry to me."

Wasps director of rugby Tony Hawks added: "Joe's nose has only just stopped bleeding."

SCORERS - Wasps: tries Varndell 2, penalty try; con Van Gisbergen; pen Van Gisbergen 3. Harlequins: tries Monye, Camacho; con Evans; pen Evans.

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