Gloucester stung by Wasps

Wasps earned a hard-fought 21-14 win over struggling Gloucester at Adams Park, strengthening their bid for LV= Cup glory.

The home team made an impressive comeback from 14-3 down, spurred on by a try from scrum-half Joe Simpson, who arrived off the bench in the 50th minute.

Wasps piled on the pressure from the start and were rewarded after five minutes with a penalty slotted over by Eoghan Hickey.

Gloucester's Freddie Burns missed a penalty on 17 minutes but soon compensated, building on good work by flanker Apolosi Satala to burst through a narrow gap and score the first try of the game, one he also converted to make it 7-3 to the visitors.

Wasps were in danger of slipping further behind but Will Matthews charged down a drop-goal attempt by Burns in the 34th minute.

Different line-up

Despite Wasps changing their line-up for the second half, with Dave Walder coming at fly-half with Hickey taking over from Jack Wallace at full-back, Gloucester widened the advantage within two minutes.

Burns' second prod at a rolling ball went straight between the legs of Hickey, allowing the fly-half to chase it over the line before converting once more.

Wasps hit back, though, when Simon Shaw displayed excellent ball-winning skills to set up Tom Varndell down Gloucester's left flank.

Olly Morgan showed Varndell the outside and the wing upped his speed to cruise over the line. The conversion was missed, though, and Walder also failed to knock over a penalty after 53 minutes.

However a lineout error allowed Wasps to reclaim the lead five minutes later, Ben Phillips over-throwing near to his own line resulting in Simpson diving over from close range. This time Walder added the conversion.

Hickey sent a penalty attempt from halfway into the post before turning kicking duties back to Walder, who landed a pair of late penalties to seal the result.