LAST November Bath came to High Wycombe in the Aviva Premiership and ran roughshod over their hosts in a 28-5 win that left Wasps as black as their shirts.

The same teams will meet at the same venue at the end of April, but that is where the similarities are likely to end.

Wasps earned the rematch with a 36-24 Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over Gloucester on Sunday.

After hints at a revival in the past fortnight, the cup win confirmed their return to full form just in time to mount a credible bid for silverware after a six-year hiatus.

Director of rugby Dai Young said: “I was really pleased with that performance. I thought we showed real intensity and urgency in everything we did.

“But that’s been brewing. People who have been watching us over the last couple of weeks have seen that.

“We talked about penetration and I thought the forwards worked really well around the rucks. They got us going forward.

“We were still a little bit loose and one or two passes didn’t go to hand, but more stuck than they have for a month so it was definitely a step up from where we’ve been.”

The win continued Wasps’ superb form in Europe this season, where they have won all seven of their games with an accumulated score of 321-100.

Young said: “We’ve probably kept our best performances for this competition and we’ve been very consistent.

“We did really well to get to the quarters with two quality French teams in our group and Gloucester was never going to be easy, but we thoroughly deserved it and you could see how much it meant to the players.”

Bath will be a step up again though.

They pulled Brive apart 39-7 in their quarter-final and are on their way to the play-offs in the Premiership.

Young said: “Gloucester was just one hurdle and we know what is front of us.

“Bath at home is a massive game for us and they really tidied us up last time they played against us here, so we are under no illusions how big that task will be.

“We’re in the next round and we’re really pleased with that and we would certainly like to go at least another step.

“But we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. There is a lot of work to be done before we get anywhere near to getting our hands on a trophy.”