Gloucester: (8) 32 Tries: Allen 2, Lamb, Bailey Cons: Lamb 3 Pens: Lamb 2 Wasps (20) 37 Tries: Worsley 2, Van Gisbergen, Sackey Cons: Van Gisbergen 4 Pens: Van Gisbergen 3

The hosts took an early lead through Anthony Allen's sparkling try but Wasps hit back through Mark van Gisbergen and Joe Worsley to lead 20-8 at the break.

A hat-trick of tries from Allen, Ryan Lamb and James Bailey gave the hosts a 32-20 lead.

But Paul Sackey and Joe Worsley crossed late on to give Wasps victory and the fourth and final play-off spot.

Interview: Ian McGeechan

Gloucester started at break-neck pace and took an eighth-minute lead as Allen hit a flat pass from his England Under-21 team-mate Lamb and sliced through the Wasps defence on halfway.

A side-step took him past Wasps full-back Van Gisbergen and he raced clear for a fine try.

Lamb missed the conversion and Wasps hit back to take the lead midway through the half courtesy of two Van Gisbergen penalties.

The full-back then launched an incisive counter-attack which ended with Worsley powering over.

Van Gisbergen's conversion gave Wasps a 13-5 lead and the New Zealand-born player then finished off a bludgeoning attack by stepping inside three men for a cracking try.

He picked himself up to slot the conversion, and although Lamb landed a penalty for Gloucester before the break, Wasps went in with a 12-point advantage.

It's great to see Van Gisbergen back in form, but he still lacks the quality to play at international level From Rick Have your say on Scrum V

Gloucester lost Mike Tindall at the break with a back injury but they shrugged of his absence to score a remarkable hat-trick of tries.

First Allen latched onto Lamb's grubber kick before the fly-half scored a contender for try of the season.

Lamb started and finished the length-of-the-field effort, rounding it off with an impish dummy that left Worsley dumbfounded.

They completed the hat-trick with another try-of-the-season contender after Wasps threatened to batter their way back into the game.

Gloucester turned the ball over five yards out from their line, the fearless Lamb hurled the ball wide and Simpson-Daniel and Bailey combined for another brilliant length-of-the-field try.

Lamb converted all three and Gloucester led 32-20, but Wasps then turned on the power to battle their way to victory.

Van Gisbergen trimmed the gap with a penalty and when Sackey went over Van Gisbergen's conversion made it 32-30.

The full-back missed a 71st-minute penalty which would have edged the champions back into the lead.

But he could not fail to add the extras from in front of the posts when Worsley went over with less than five minutes left to clinch victory for the champions in a fantastic game.