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Gloucester hold off Wasps fightback to claim narrow victory
Gloucester held off a final-quarter rally from Wasps to claim a 35-33 victory in a hard-fought encounter at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
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The visitors, for whom fly-half Adam Hastings kicked 15 points, led 23-5 and 35-19 at varying stages in the game but a late yellow card for their England wing Jonny May gave Wasps the impetus they needed and they nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback.
Wasps outscored their opponents by five tries to four with Jacob Umaga scoring two – to go along with four conversions – after Thomas Young, Gabriel Oghre and Alfie Barbeary had crossed.
Billy Twelvetrees touched down twice for Gloucester in between scores from May and Jack Clement, with Hastings slotting over three penalties and three conversions.
Injury-ravaged Wasps suffered two further blows ahead of the game when Ali Crossdale and Marcus Watson both withdrew from the starting line-up to take their casualty list to 19. Matteo Minozzi and Francois Hougaard replaced them, with the South African scrum-half assuming an uncustomary role on the wing.
The hosts soon had another setback when they conceded the first score.
A clever kick ahead and gather from Hastings put the Wasps defence on the back foot for May to take advantage by stepping past two opponents to race away for a solo try.
Hastings converted and added two penalties to give the visitors a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
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Wasps had been comfortably second best in that period but with their first attack they got on the scoreboard.
Gloucester were penalised on halfway for Umaga’s kick to secure an attacking line-out and from there a rehearsed move saw Young crash over.
However, Gloucester resumed their domination of the first half when a pass from Mark Atkinson sent Twelvetrees powering past some weak tackling for their second try.
Minutes later they should have had another as more poor defensive work from Wasps saw the visitors presented with a golden opportunity but an excellent tackle from Hougaard prevented May from scoring his second.
“A golden try would be amazing for this league”
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https://t.co/jtDFGj4a59— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 26, 2021
Just before half-time, Hastings added his third penalty before Oghre finished off a driving line-out to leave Wasps trailing 23-12 at the interval.
Ten minutes after the restart, Gloucester extended their lead when Ben Meehan and Atkinson combined cleverly to send Twelvetrees in for his second.
Wasps immediately took off their two try-scorers, Young and Oghre, and were soon rewarded when the newly-introduced Barbeary forced his way over.
The home side threatened to come back into contention but a mistake from Umaga gifted his opponents an attacking platform, with Clement finishing off a driving line-out for the bonus-point try.
Wasps built up a period of late pressure and May was yellow-carded before Umaga scored two converted tries in quick succession but Gloucester just held on.
Comments on RugbyPass
I still see nothing in Sotutus play that hes changed his upright running style that failed so many times against decent international defences like the french. Other than that… Iose? Well you have covered his limitations well. If Sititi had been playing the the season… Jacobson? Grace?…Neither shout pick me. So Ardie it is.
1 Go to commentsThere isn’t one element you mentioned there that every top class or successful team gets up to. The great All blacks sides used to play on the ‘fringes or edge’ but it was essentially saying they were doing something illegal or borderline to gain dominance. The fine margins at the top are minute between the top sides. La Rochelle, the crusaders, Saracens, Toulon etc etc…..have all been accused. Get over it, the comment comes across as salty and naive. Northampton as well as they played to get back into the match were thoroughly beaten and controlled for 60 minutes and Leinster have only themselves to blame for kicking it away and hence losing control of the match and being nearly the architects of their own downfall.
2 Go to commentsThere is some talent coming thru thats for sure. The 10 looks special to me. Rico Simpson is a name to look for in the future.
1 Go to commentsI think this quiet honestly is just an innocent misunderstanding by someone who is pig sh*t stupid. Eben is a fine player but by christ, if he can’t understand or get what the Irish players were trying to say to him after the match…..well i hope he has someone looking after his finances, career and is reading the fine print for him, cause life after rugby may be quite difficult for the vacuous echo chamber.
27 Go to commentsIt could be Doris' day!
3 Go to commentsThe whole thing has blown up because Eben’s words have clearly struck a nerve in Ireland. Otherwise they would just laugh it off. I think some former Irish players, commentators and some Irish fans know deep down this Ireland team started to believe its own press and that a certain amount of arrogance had started to creep in during the World Cup. The topic was actually brought up by Irish pundits on Off the Ball recently. It’s fine to be arrogant if you can back it up. Ireland didn’t.
27 Go to comments‘The Irish are good people'. Why is Goode praising a people who hate his own? Wet wipe.
27 Go to commentsLa mejor final que se puede ver en el emisferio norte.
1 Go to commentsA lot of cope from south africans in the comments. Etzebeth is a liar and a hypocrite; you don’t have to defend him!
27 Go to commentsHe got big and really slow for a flyhalf…not sure he’s relevant in a bok conversation anymore
4 Go to commentsBest tourney team vs best team in the regular season for 3 games in RSA - talk is cheap, let’s see what’s what on the tour
27 Go to commentsOne overlooked statistic from their 2016 winning season is the Huricanes are still the only team in Super rugby history not to concede a try during the playoff rounds.
4 Go to commentsThanks for the article, Nick. The Nienaber blitz D does ask a lot of its scrumhalf. I have been watching JGP on D and he often looks like he has mastered what Nienaber asks for better than Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach! 🤣 Impressive season by JGP if I must make an understatement.
22 Go to commentsOkay last one. I promise. I think it’s despicable for Andy Goode to suggest that Eben can’t count to 12. To be fair he only had to count to 8 - the number of Irishmen who DIDN’T say that. Less the 3 kiwis of course. 23 - 12 - 3 = 8. See Joe. I can do maffs.
27 Go to commentsCheers, Nick! How do you see the Reds’ Jock Campbell’s play this year? Not as strong a carrier as Andrew Kellaway or Tom Wright, but does avoid errors. Do you see Joe Schmidt as wanting safety first at 15 or a try-assisting counterattacker?
91 Go to commentsI’m sure this was all just a big misunderstanding. Irishmen and Afrikaaners conversing in a noisey stadium. Not easy to get the right messages across. A minefield.
27 Go to commentsSay what you will about Andy Goode. But he is right about one thing… I’m not sure what that one thing is exactly… but I’m willing to hear him out.
27 Go to commentsAnother article to bait and trigger Irish fans. This must stop.
27 Go to commentsHi Nick. Thanks for your +++ ongoing analysis. Re Vunivalu, He’s been benched recently and it will be interesting to see what Kiss does with him as we enter the backend of SRP. I’m still not sold.
91 Go to commentsIn the fine tradition of Irish rugby, Leinster cheat well and for some reason only known to whoever referees them, they are allowed to get away with it every single game. If teams have not got the physicality up front to stop them getting the ball, they will win every single game. They take out players beyond the ruck and often hold them on the ground. Those that are beyond the ruck and therefore offside, hover there to cause distraction but also to join the next ruck from the side thereby stopping the jackal. The lineout prior to the second try on Saturday. 3 Leinster players left the lineout before the ball was thrown and were driving the maul as soon as the player hit the ground and thereby getting that valuable momentum. They scrummage illegally, with the looshead turning in to stop the opposing tighthead from pushing straight and making it uncomfortable for the hooker. The tighthead takes a step and tries to get his opposite loosehead to drop the bind. Flankers often ‘move up’ and actually bind on the prop and not remain bound to the second row. It does cause chaos and is done quickly and efficiently so that referees are blinded by the illegal tactics. I am surprised opposition coaches when they meet referees before games don’t mention it. I am also surprised that they do not go to the referees group and ask them to look at the tactics used and referee them properly. If they are the better team and win, fair play but a lot of their momentum is gained illegally and therefore it is not a level playing field.
2 Go to comments