Blackett in awe of Wasps flyhalf duo
Sonatane Takulua and Marcus Watson had given Wasps an almighty fright with two tries in the first five minutes, with Olympic Silver medallist Watson’s solo effort converted by Joel Hodgson.
But Cipriani pulled Wasps back into contention with a fine chip-and-chase before tries from Christian Wade and Thomas Young cancelled out a further Rob Vickers score for Falcons.
With Falcons leading 22-21, Gopperth rose from the bench to replace Cipriani after he damaged his ankle and he wasted little time exerting control – scoring a try and converting it within six minutes.
Hogson and Gopperth then traded penalties before Elliot Daly banged over a long-range penalty that effectively sealed the five points before Mark Wilson grabbed Falcons’ bonus-point score.
Dai Young’s side will now finish 2016 at the Premiership Rugby summit after moving past reigning champions Saracens – who meet Leicester Tigers on New Year’s Day.
And Blackett admitted that the club were blessed to have two top-class operators competing for the nunber 10 jersey.
"We know that we need two top class tens to perform at the top of the league, we know how blessed we are," Blackett said.
"That’s what Jimmy does, he controls the game, he has been with us for 18 months and has been really influential on the way we play.
"Danny played really well in the first half, he took his opportunity and probably got us back in the game with his chip, then Jimmy came on and won it for us,"
Though he conceded that Wasps were disappointed to concede four tries and make a series of mistakes in the North-East, Blackett pointed to a perfect ten points from ten so far in the festive period that they will look to continue against Leicester Tigers at the Ricoh Arena.
"To come through the Christmas period and take ten points – the maximum we could take – we are delighted," he said.
"It is always tough to come up here, but there are no excuses. It was a six day turnaround, but it was about getting our heads on and being professional.
"We are disappointed, but it is about getting results. We will take the five points and are happy with that.
"Towards the end we had control and were more than one score up and made silly errors on turnover ball when all we really needed to do was keep hold of it,"
Dean Richards meanwhile said it was bittersweet watching his side perform so well and hit their straps in attack only to fall short against the league’s first-place side.
He said: "I am disappointed for the boys, they put in a huge shift today, but we did lack a bit of accuracy today and leaked two soft tries, which we were disappointed with and a couple of penalties at the end which probably cost us dear.
"We said we wanted to play ball in hand and though we were disappointed last week, the opening ten minutes probably showed what we can do.
"We just have to make sure we do it for 80 minutes. The boys know they can be competitive at the top end of the table, which is what we are doing at the moment,"
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