Wasps 23-16 Gloucester

Wasps sent Gloucester crashing to their first defeat of the season in a hard fought clash at Adams Park on Saturday.

The Cherry and Whites were made to play with 14 men for almost the entire match, after lock Adam Eustace was sent-off for deliberately stamping on Alex King in the opening minutes.

Match Facts

Wasps: 23 (8) Tries: Van Gisbergen; Lewsey; Shaw Conv: Logan Pens: King; Logan Gloucester 16 (10) Tries Fanolua Conv: Mercier Pens: Mercier (2); Paul

Tries from Mark Van Gisbergen, Josh Lewsey and Simon Shaw proved too much for the Premiership leaders, who did well to contain a powerful home side.

A try from Terry Fanolua gave Gloucester the early lead, but Eustace's absence ultimately cost Nigel Melville's men the chance to pull away from their Premiership rivals.

King recovered quickly from his early knock to increase Gloucester's pain with a well struck penalty.

But the visitors replied immediately through Ludovic Mercier.

In a brutal opening period, both Joe Worsley and Ayoola Erinle left the field for Wasps. And, despite being one man down, it was the visitors who grabbed the game's opening try.

After disrupting a Wasps scrum inside the 22, Mercier threw a long pass to Fanolua who ran in unopposed beneath the posts.

We had the better of them today Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio

Mercier's boot extended the lead, but the home side were unlucky not to be instantly rewarded after Phil Greening was adjudged to have lost the ball on the Gloucester line.

Seconds later the try did arrive, when Van Gisbergen capped a superb move, created by a thundering Lawrence Dallaglio run.

If Gloucester boss Melville was happy with his side's first-half performance, things did not go quite so well in the second.

Wasps winger Kenny Logan gave his side the lead for the first time in the match just one minute into the second period, after King was carried off the pitch on a stretcher.

Credit to Wasps, but we should have performed better despite being one man down Gloucester captain Phil Vickery

It prompted a good period of pressure from Wasps and when Rob Howley fed Lewsey on the blind side, the full-back ran in for his sixth try the season.

Gloucester's prospects looked bleak until Dallaglio was yellow-carded for illegally slowing down play.

Mercier slotted the points and with 14 against 14, the visiting fans could at last savour the possibility of success.

But the Wasps defence held firm and Shaw wrapped up proceedings with a well worked try, despite a late Henry Paul penalty.

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Wasps: Lewsey, Roiser, Abbott, A. Erinle, Logan, A. King, Howley, Dowd, Greening, W. Green, Shaw, Birkett, Worsley, Volley, Dallaglio. Replacements: Wood, van Gisbergen, Rudd, Scrivener, Beardshaw, Molloy, Leota.

Gloucester: Paul, Garvey, Fanolua, Todd, Simpson-Daniel, Mercier, Gomarsall, Woodman, Azam, Vickery, Eustace, Cornwell, Boer, Forrester, Paramore. Replacements: Amor, Stuart-Smith, Delport, Deacon, Fortey, Buxton, Pearce.

Referee: N Williams (WRFU)