Wasps 19-20 Gloucester: Gloucester character survives red card

GLOUCESTER produced a fine performance while being down to 14 men for nearly an hour to get their first back-to-back win of the season and lift themselves off the foot of the table.

A sigh of relief must have echoed around the county when Billy Twelvetrees found his shooting boots to score from 40 metres out to win the game in the final minutes.

Head coach George Skivington said his Cherry and Whites had shown outstanding character to round out the win after wing Ollie Thorley was sent-off for a head-to-head collision with Rob Miller inside the first half hour.

He said: “It was a nervy game from when we got the red card but the boys did unbelievably well and for Billy to kick that at the end is a welcome relief.

“We've had a few practice runs with 14 men unfortunately so to fall the right side of it is great, but it's not something we want to continue doing, it makes life hard.

“But I can't fault the boys character, the way they stick together is a testament to them.”

The visitors started the stronger of the two, playing with added confidence off the back of their derby win last weekend over Worcester – their first since beating Wasps at home in November – to end an eight-game losing streak.

Gloucester were in deep Wasps territory several times early on and, but for the quick thinking of the Wasps half-backs and some poor execution in the final third, the Cherry and Whites would have scored early on.

Thorley looked dangerous and had a clear edge over Zach Kibirige and Miller. Good work by Thorley ended with ex-Bedford Blues centre Michael Le Bourgeois conceding the penalty that led to the field position for the first try.

From the five-metre lineout, lock Matias Alemanno and hooker Santiago Socino worked well to get the rolling maul over in the corner.

Both side's defences were on top in the first half, with attacking plays failing after a few phases.

In the 26th minute Thorley went head-on-head into a tackle with Miller who had just landed with a high ball.

Thorley initially wentoff for a cut eyebrow but never returned. Despite TMO Graham Hughes calling it a “fair challenge for the ball”, referee Matt Carley concluded there was no reason to mitigate as Thorley had sped up and made no attempt to dip.

Wasps centre Malakai Fekitoa was sin-binned two minutes later for disruption which led to some hand-bags and the home side's ill discipline meant they'd conceded ten penalties in the first halfhour.

Willi Heinz fired quick ball from the scrum wide to Twelvetrees in the 33rd minute who fed ex-Newcastle centre Chris Harris who beat three defenders to dot down.

Wasps showed real potency after half-time – playing with width and stretching Gloucester's 14 men to score twice in five minutes.

A break by Miller on the flank got Wasps deep into Gloucester territory before lock James Gaskell scurried past Socino to score. Then some deft handling by fly-half Jacob Umaga fed charging prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen and a dummy-offload to Miller saw the full-back slide over.

The home side looked to have done enough when a long pass to Josh Bassett saw the wing skirt three defenders including Gloucester skipper Lewis Ludlow to dot down.

But then Gloucester won their second scrum penalty and Twelvetrees sealed the huge win.