Gloucester (13) 24
Tries: Morgan, Balshaw, Qera Pens: Barkley 3

Wasps (13) 22
Try: Mitchell Cons: Walder Pens: Walder 5

Gloucester's Morgan dives over after a searing touchline dash

Gloucester's Olly Barkley slotted a late penalty to sink Wasps and take his side back top of the Premiership.

The Kingsholm side were trailing despite scoring three tries as Wasps replacement Dave Walder kicked four penalties to remain clear.

Lachlan Mitchell scored first for Wasps but tries from Olly Morgan and Iain Balshaw made it 13-13 at half-time.

Akapusi Qera's try eventually gave Gloucester the lead but Walder grabbed it back before Barkley's third penalty.

Gloucester's narrow win gave them a four-point cushion over Leicester in the league, while Wasps' struggles continue, though the losing bonus point kept them ninth after Northampton climbed to seventh with a 38-3 win over Sale.

Wasps will also be concerned over the fitness of centre Josh Lewsey, who was carried off after 12 minutes with a leg injury.

Lewsey was replaced by Walder, who went to fly-half, with Danny Cipriani moving to centre.

And it was the 21-year-old Cipriani's 40m dash to the line following outside centre Dominic Waldouck's pass that set up right wing Mitchell to score, with Walder converting.

Walder also stroked a penalty for a seven-point lead but Gloucester hit back with a stunning try of their own.

Kiwi fly-half Carlos Spencer released Morgan in this own 22 and he hared down the touchline before dummying to Balshaw to dive over.

Barkley missed the conversion but Walder added another penalty to stretch the lead before Balshaw scored with another searing run into the corner.

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Barkley was again off-target with the conversion but exchanged penalties with Walder before the Wasps man added a fourth to make it 19-16.

But Gloucester upped the ante and Fijian back row Qera, on as a blood replacement for number eight Gareth Delve, scored their third with Wasps down to 14 men after the sin-binning of Serge Betsen for hands in a ruck.

Barkley missed his third conversion and Walder snatched back the lead at 22-21 with his fifth kick before Barkley landed his third with 12 minutes left.

Wasps tried to manufacture a drop-goal at the death but were unable to secure possession with Walder waiting in position.

Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan:
"I think it was tighter than it needed to be, we missed 20 or 21 points from the boot and I don't think we ever got more than a two or three point gap.

"You just cannot afford to do that against Wasps because they are pretty smart in finding wins from games they have not had that much dominance in.

"We have to look at the kicking but we also lost composure in that last half hour and became a little bit individual.

"If we had stuck to our guns, I thought there was a bonus point there for us which is disappointing."

Wasps assistant coach Tony Hanks on injuries to Danny Cipriani and Josh Lewsey:
"Danny's problem was his ankle that he injured last year. There are times when it just becomes really sore. He played through quite a bit of pain today.

"If it had been any other day we might have brought him off but we are pleased that he really toughed it out.

"Losing Josh early did not help, of course. He has been in great form and pretty instrumental in what we have been doing.

"He has taken a really bad knock on the quad just above the knee. There is no way he could have carried on as it was quite swollen and he was in quite a bit of pain."

Gloucester: Morgan, Balshaw, Allen, Barkley, Sharples, Spencer, R. Lawson, Wood, Azam, Somerville, James, Brown, Narraway, Hazell, Delve.

Replacements: Watkins for Allen (74), Foster for Sharples (61), Lamb for Spencer (65), Titterrell for Azam (61), Qera for Delve (52).

Not Used: Forster, Eustace.

Wasps: Van Gisbergen, Mitchell, Waldouck, Lewsey, Voyce, Cipriani, Reddan, Beech, Webber, Payne, Birkett, Skivington, Betsen, Rees, Hart.

Replacements: Walder for Lewsey (11), Simpson for Reddan (77), Holford for Beech (56), Ward for Webber (66), Leo for Birkett (63).

Not Used: Veale, Odejobi.

Sin Bin: Betsen (51).

Att: 15,294

Ref: Rob Debney (Leicestershire).

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