WASPS Zak Taulafo was named Man of the Match on Sunday after destroying the Saracens pack at scrum time and barging through their defences in a succession of rampaging carries in open play.

His wrecking ball performance continued a stellar start to his career in the black and gold.

He said: “When I got here I thought I’d learn a lot at this club, from the players I’d been watching on television and from being coached by a World Cup winner in Trevor Woodman.

“But they have put their trust in me so I have to perform the best I can to pay back the big chance they’ve given me.”

Wasps director of rugby Tony Hanks describes Taulafo as a ‘man on a mission’ and his impact so far certainly bears that out; it’s not coincidence that his arrival has coincided with a significant improvement from the pack.

He said: “We feel like we have to prove ourselves as a pack.

“The referees have been looking at us because we’ve been a bit down in the scrums and at line-outs, but we’re trying our hardest to turn that around.

“We’ve been training so hard and we go into games wanting to prove to everyone our scrum is good.

“The last few games we’ve been better and against Saracens I was really happy with the scrum and how we went as an eight.

“We’d been preparing for the game all week and as a front row we’d been studying them to try and sort out a way to beat them.

“But it’s not just about this game or the game just gone. We’ve still got some of the hardest games to come and we need to build from this and take the positives from it into the rest of the season.”