WASPS MUST

on the floor.floor That is why it went to the yellow.”

Both teams had already qualified from Pool Five before they kicked off thanks to Wasps’ heroic comeback in Coventry and from Saints’ point of view it was a good job they had.

This was a savage beating and Northampton’s worse performance for more than a year. They were second best all day long and the watching England coaches Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree will be having nightmares with the Six Nations looming.

Hartley was quiet once he came back on, lost two scrums against the head and his lineout throwing was off beam.

Luther Burrell was completely overshadowed by his opposite number Jamie Roberts who is a certainty to WASPS must wait until later today to discover whether their Champions Cup dreams are still alive.

Not a bad outcome considering their first half was a total nightmare.

In the end, Coventry-born Andy Goode cloud have delivered a win for the 23,493 Ricoh Arena crowd – but the start for Wales against England a week on Friday.

Burrell fell off tackles all day long, was hauled off after 64 minutes and can kiss goodbye to his chances of starting in Cardiff. And when Hartley was taken off after an hour it was a signal Northampton had thrown the towel in.

Saints were undone by three tries in four and a half minutes either side of the break. They former England fly-half shanked his drop-goal attempt. So Leinster top Pool Two, but may have missed out on a home quarter-final tie.

Wasps captain James Haskell said: “Our first half was disappointing. But we won the second-half battle, showed enormous character and came within a whisker of winning.

“I won’t watch any Sunday rugby. If you are good enough, you are ruthless enough to see the job through