James Simpson-Daniel hacks the ball past Wasps' Dave Walder on the way to scoring the game's only try as Gloucester won 10-9 at Adams Park
Gloucester climbed to fourth in the Premiership table with a hard-fought victory over Wasps at Adams Park.
The Cherry and Whites deservedly led 10-0 at the break thanks to wing James Simpson-Daniel's converted try and a penalty from fly-half Nicky Robinson.
Wasps improved after the break and three penalties from stand-off Dave Walder set up a nervy finale.
But Gloucester held on for the win as both Simpson-Daniel and Wasps winger Tom Varndell were carried off injured.
Both left the pitch on stretchers with what appeared to be serious ankle injuries.
Gloucester began the game seventh in the table, one point and one place below Wasps, albeit having played two games less.
Their preparation was hardly helped by losing Olly Morgan and Alex Brown to injuries sustained in training, which resulted in Charlie Sharples switching to full-back, Tom Voyce being recalled on the wing and Will James replacing Brown at lock.
Running rugby was difficult after driving rain soaked the pitch, but it was Gloucester who made the breakthrough when Ben Jacobs missed Sharples' high kick and Simpson-Daniel hacked the ball on before winning the foot race to score by the posts.
Robinson added the conversion and extended the lead with a penalty when Wasps were slow in retreating.
The home side hit back with two Walder penalties in two minutes straight after the break.
And after Robinson missed two attempts to give Gloucester breathing space, Walder brought his side back to within a point with 16 minutes still to play by landing a third penalty.
The injuries to Simpson-Daniel and Varndell disrupted the closing stages, though, and Gloucester even had the luxury of Robinson missing a third penalty late on as they held out.
Wasps director of rugby Tony Hanks: "I'm disappointed with the way we gave up 10 points before getting into the game, but they also missed a couple of kicks, so we get one point when we could have come away with four.
"We tried to knock balls to other people rather than claiming possession and dealing with it. You have to respect the conditions and take responsibility, something we talked about strongly at half-time.
"These were very tough conditions for both teams, and it was a good game for the supporters to watch. We kicked our goals, and we could have got one more to nick the win."
On Tom Varndell: "Tom Varndell's ankle is too sore and swollen to make any sort of assessment. He'll have a scan when the swelling goes down, but hopefully it's not too serious."
Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: "Especially in the first half were outstanding in the conditions, Nicky (Robinson) played exceptionally well in the first half, kept the ball in front of the forwards.
"Up front our scrum and our drive was great and we were very disciplined in how we controlled the game - that first half was very good.
"Away wins are hard to get and it puts us in to fourth position with two games in hand so we've done a lot of good things and we still need to learn massively and not think the win should cover or mask the poor things we've done."
Replacements: May for Simpson-Daniel (66), Burns for Voyce (75), Pasqualin for Lewis (58), Azam for Dawidiuk (47), Strokosch for Buxton (76), Qera for Hazell (58). Not Used: Thomas, Harden.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?