WASPS 24 GLOUCESTER 19

A VALIANT second-half fightback from Gloucester won them the consolation of a losing bonus point which was probably all they deserved despite a spirited effort in the Guinness Premiership against Wasps.

Head coach Bryan Redpath's experiment at half-back meant it would always take a while for them to get into the game with the relatively untried pair of Tim Taylor and Andy Williams pulling the strings.

It was only when Nicky Robinson and Rory Lawson were introduced in the second half that the Cherry and Whites got anything going, although the penalties and mistakes made in the first 40 could not be blamed on Taylor and Williams.

A crucial 65th-minute yellow card for Akapusi Qera cost Gloucester, David Lemi scoring a typically firecracker try while the openside was off the field, beating Eliota Fuimoano-Sapolu inside the five metre channel and scurrying over.

The eight-point gap proved too much for Gloucester to come back from for a second time after they had rallied from 13-0 down back to 16-16, a Mike Tindall try in a fine performance from the England centre the catalyst after he was released by a flat Robinson pass.

In the end a try, conversion and four penalties from Dave Walder, plus Lemi's effort, were enough to win it for Wasps in the sunshine and on a surface slightly more conducive to running rugby than Kingsholm last week.

Gloucester spent the first half trying to get going but never really producing anything, the move too often breaking down when any danger threatened.

Fuimaono-Sapolu was twice the culprit on an off-day for the Samoan, first attempting a dangerous flick which went straight up in the air and then dropping a regulation pass.

Taylor's kicking from hand consistently put Gloucester under pressure, Wasps full-back Mark van Gisbergen catching them on the full and with time to spare to release dangerous wingers Lemi and Paul Sackey.

Otherwise the game was pretty even and concentrated around the middle third, the main difference being a Wasps try which came in the 24th minute.

It was the home side's one and only dangerous attack, and after Andy Williams had done well to stop Ben Jacobs on the line, a couple of phases later, off slow ball, Walder stepped inside Taylor and outside Will James too easily to score.

Walder added the conversion to add to his three penalties in the half, with Taylor kicking two from three after missing a kickable first effort as the Cherry and Whites searched for a foothold in the game.

The scrum was more competitive than most would have thought given the injuries the home side have suffered at prop and the performance of Gloucester in demolishing Sale last week. Instead, the Wasps front row of Sakaria Taulafo, Rob Webber and Ben Broster turned over the first set piece, although Gloucester had the slight upper hand from there.

The Cherry and Whites were handed a big opportunity to get back into it just before half-time when Wasps' replacement scrum-half Warren Fury was yellow carded for an infringement at a ruck, leaving them one short for the opening 10 minutes of the second period.

Although Gloucester failed to capitalise, with no score during Fury's time off the field, they did come out with renewed energy in the second half, and would get their reward eventually.

The half-backs were changed, Robinson and Lawson now pulling the strings for the Cherry and Whites and effecting a momentum turn.

After Lawson had sent Lesley Vainikolo charging into the defence from a line-out, a Robinson flat pass put Tindall through a huge gap 30 metres out and with work to do.

But Tindall was in the mood and he beat Sackey as if the England winger was not there and slid over next to the posts to Gloucester back in the game.

A Robinson penalty on 59 minutes levelled it, and the momentum was crucially with Gloucester at this point, before Qera's yellow card swung it back the other way again.

Lemi's try while Qera was off the field and Walder's three points from the infringement left Gloucester eight points behind and chasing the game again.

Another Robinson penalty took them within bonus point territory and set up a grandstand finish, and despite a break from James Simpson-Daniel which threatened the Wasps line, Gloucester were forced to make do with a losing bonus point.

The result leaves Gloucester seventh, level on points with Harlequins and 11 points off Wasps in fourth place.

Wasps: M Van Gisbergen; P Sackey, B Jacobs, S Kefu, D Lemi; D Walder, J Honeyben; Z Taulafo, R Webber (capt), B Broster; M Veale, D Leo; J Hart, S Betsen, D Ward Smith. Reps: H Ellis (Hart 73), W Fury (Honeyben 26, yellow card 39/49), D Cipriani (van Gisbergen 59), D Waldouck (Jacobs 55), Unused: T Lindsay, G Bocca, B Baker,T Varndell.

Gloucester: O Morgan; J Simpson-Daniel, M Tindall, E Fuimaono-Sapolu, L Vainikolo; T Taylor, A Williams; N Wood (back on for Dickinson 73), O Azam, P Capdevielle; W James, A Brown; A Strokosch, A Qera (yellow card 65/75), G Delve (capt). Reps: S Lawson (Azam 51), A Dickinson (Wood 55), P Doran-Jones (Capdevielle 55), A Eustace (James 55), R Lawson (Williams 57), N Robinson (Taylor 44), T Molenaar (Tindall 55). Unused: J Boer.

Referee: A Small (RFU)

Attendance: 8,541