Gloucester wing James Simpson-Daniel on the attack

Gloucester (12) 18
Pens: Lamb 6

Wasps (3) 17
Tries: Buckland, Waldouck
Cons: Cipriani 2
Pen: Cipriani

Premiership leaders Gloucester survived a second-half Wasps fightback to go four points clear at the top.

Ryan Lamb kicked four first-half penalties, with Wasps replying in kind through Dan Cipriani, to give Gloucester a 12-3 lead at half-time.

Two more Lamb penalties made it 18-3 before Wasps hit back through James Buckland's converted try.

Dominic Waldouck's converted try cut the gap to a single point but a losing bonus point was all they took home.

It was a losing return to Kingsholm for England captain Phil Vickery, who was playing his first game there since leaving Gloucester for Wasps in the summer of 2006.

606: DEBATE That was the best I've heard the Shed all season and I think overall we deserved the victory whogoesthere?

Gloucester went into battle without half-a-dozen first-teamers including England squad member Lesley Vainikolo, who rested a knee injury sustained on Heineken Cup duty against Ulster last weekend.

Wasps were also missing the England trio of Paul Sackey, Simon Shaw and Joe Worsley through injury, while hooker Raphael Ibanez was beginning a four-week suspension.

Lamb booted Gloucester into an early 6-0 lead, but only because his opposite number Cipriani missed two penalties, and Wasps gave as good as they got during the initial exchanges.

However, they then lost both James Haskell and Tom Palmer to the sin-bin and Lamb took full advantage to kick Gloucester into a 12-3 lead at the break.

Gloucester's fans enjoyed the Cherry and Whites' narrow victory

Lamb quickly resumed normal business after the interval, landing two further penalties as Wasps struggled with their one-man disadvantage.

But once they had their full complement back on the pitch the visitors struck.

When Lamb was yellow-carded for a technical offence, Wasps rifled the resulting penalty into touch and a smart line-out move resulted in an unmarked Buckland powering over after 53 minutes.

Cipriani put his earlier kicking woes behind him to land the difficult conversion, and with just under 15 minutes to go they scored again as spell of incessant pressure saw Waldouck capitalise on Lamb's fragile defending to cross unopposed.

The conversion made it 18-17 and for a time Gloucester lost all composure, but they managed to regain control to ensure they made it 17 league wins in a row.