Wasps (3) 6
Pens: Walder, Van Gisbergen
Newcastle (6) 12
Pens: Gopperth (4)

Dan Ward-Smith squandered a late opening for Wasps

A dominant forwards' display from Newcastle condemned Wasps to a second home defeat of the season and eased the Falcons up to sixth in the Premiership.

The power of props Carl Hayman and Jon Golding prevented Wasps establishing a platform and two penalties from Jimmy Gopperth built a 6-3 lead at the break.

After Gopperth nailed another kick, Mark van Gisbergen's reply appeared to set up an intriguing last 15 minutes.

But Gopperth struck again before Wasps blew a last-minute try-scoring chance.

With boss Tony Hanks moving Danny Cipriani to full-back and a good running surface at Adams Park, the hosts would have fancied their chances of securing the high-scoring win that would open up an 11-point gap on Harlequins beneath them.

606: DEBATE What does defeat mean for Wasps' play-off hopes?

They were duly ahead inside a minute as Alex Tait strayed offside from his team-mates' messy attempts to gather the kick-off and former Falcon Dave Walder slotted the penalty.

But Gopperth replied inside five minutes and Hayman and Golding turned the screw on opposite numbers Tim Payne and Bob Baker at the set-piece.

The Wasps scrum was crabbing backwards and Walder struggled to set his backline running.

Both fly-halves missed with ambitious penalty attempts before Simon Shaw appeared to have scored the first try.

The England lock forced his way over the final few metres but Hayman did enough on the floor to raise questions in the mind of the video referee over the grounding of the ball.

After seeing one lengthy penalty attempt thump against the crossbar, Gopperth found his range from closer in and on the angle to send his side in ahead at half-time.

Hanks' introduction of Samoan tight-head prop Sakaria Taulafo at the interval for his Wasps debut did not immediately stem the tide and Gopperth extended the lead after the front rows popped up seven minutes after the restart.

But the set-piece battle evened up after Newcastle lost Golding and, after a horribly-shanked penalty from Cipriani, Van Gisbergen landed one to reduce the deficit.

Gopparth restored the six-point gap soon after and, despite Cipriani being restored to fly-half, the Newcastle defence stood firm.

With the game apparently secure, the Falcons needlessly conceded possession inside their own half.

But they were spared as number eight Dan Ward-Smith took the ball in space but ignored winger Tom Varndell on his outside and was tied up by the cover defence.

Wasps director of rugby Tony Hanks:

"Both teams tried to play rugby. That's where I'm most frustrated.

"Week-in, week-out the breakdown seems to be different. We need to get clear interpretation in terms of who's allowed to play the ball.

"We need that to encourage teams to play rugby. At the moment what incentive is there to play rugby?"

Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates:

"The referee has a very difficult job but we're not seeing as much consistency as we'd all like.

"There needs to be a move to get the tackler out of the way very quickly and if they don't, then get them off the field."

Newcastle fly-half Jimmy Gopperth:

"We're very pleased with the result and on the balance we dominated for large parts up front.

"We caused them a lot of problems in the scrum and that was the basis for a well-deserved victory.

"They came back into the game more in the second half but we defended well. Now we need to stay focused and become more consistent."

Wasps: Cipriani, Varndell, Waldouck, Kefu, Lemi, Walder, Robinson, Payne, Webber, Baker, Shaw, Skivington, Hart, Matthews, Ward-Smith.
Replacements: Jacobs for Kefu (67), van Gisbergen for Walder (52), Taulafo for Baker (41), Leo for Skivington (70).
Not Used: Ward, Veale, Honeyben, Bocca.

Newcastle: Tait, Bobo, Vickerman, Tu'ipulotu, Amesbury, Gopperth, Charlton, Golding, Vickers, Hayman, Hudson, Swinson, Afu, B. Wilson, Levi.
Replacements: Biggs for Vickerman (52), Miller for Amesbury (60), Pilgrim for Charlton (70), Ward for Golding (57), Thompson for Vickers (79), Welch for B. Wilson (76).
Not Used: Shiels, Sorenson.

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