Gloucester 27-14 Wasps: Flurry of first-half points helps Gloucester to victory

A surge of points late in the first half helped Gloucester go third in the Premiership with victory over Wasps.

The hosts fought back from 11-0 down with converted tries from captain Willi Heinz and Ruan Ackerman giving them a 14-11 half-time lead.

They held off a Wasps fightback despite having Franco Mostert sent to the sin bin for a shoulder charge and added a late Jake Polledri try to seal the win.

Victory took them above Harlequins, who lost 27-20 against Saracens.

The win was Gloucester's fourth in their past five Premiership games.

Rob Miller kicked two penalties in the opening 20 minutes, either side of the game's opening try, which was scored for Wasps by Marcus Watson when he went over in the corner after a good move.

But following a period of sustained pressure, Gloucester got on the scoreboard eight minutes before half-time as Willi Heinz crossed for a try from a Tom Marshall offload and Billy Twelvetrees slotted the conversion.

And just five minutes later a break by Ollie Thorley was stopped just short but Ruan Ackerman went over to put Gloucester ahead with Twelvetrees adding the extras.

Twelvetrees kicked a penalty early in the second half to extend the lead but with 18 minutes remaining Mostert was yellow-carded for a shoulder charge in a ruck on Nathan Hughes.

Two minutes later Miller kicked another penalty to draw Wasps within three points before Elliot Daly missed a 45-metre penalty attempt to level the scores.

Twelvetrees' third successful penalty restored Gloucester's six-point lead and Polledri added a third Gloucester try towards the end.

Gloucester captain Willi Heinz told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"It was a sloppy start from us. We gift-wrapped Wasps their points early on but I'm pleased with the composure we showed.

"We were pleased with the turnaround going into half-time but it was still really close and the second half was a bit of a dogfight.

"We're pleased that we managed to win the knife-edge moments that could have gone for either team and we managed to keep the momentum on our side.

"It's just so tight there is no point getting carried away with the table at the moment, it's just about backing up good performances."

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire:

"I don't think there was too much in the game and we're disappointed to come away with nothing. I thought we deserved something out of the game.

"We had a really good started and got 11-0 up then had a couple of defensive lapses just before half-time after a pretty good 30 minutes.

"For most of the second half we were in there, pretty much, and we missed a couple of opportunities when we lacked patience.

"Whether we should have won is hugely debatable but we definitely should have gone away with a losing bonus point."

Gloucester: Woodward; Marshall, Twelvetrees, Atkinson, Thorley; Cipriani, Heinz (capt); Hohneck, Marais, Balmain, Slater, Moster, Ackermann, Kriel, Morgan.

Replacements: Walker, Rapava Ruskin, Dreyer, Clarke, Polledri, Vellacott, Banahan, Sharples.

Wasps: Le Roux; Watson, De Jongh, Lovobalavu, Daly; Miller, Simpson; Zhvania, Cruse, Stuart, Launchbury (capt), Gaskell, Shields, Carr, Hughes.

Replacements: Morris, Harris, Cooper-Woolley, Rowlands, Johnson, Porter, Umaga, Bassett.

Referee: Ian Tempest.

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