Wasps too strong for Gloucester

The Cherry & Whites haven't beaten Wasps in  Premiership Rugby since September 2012 and they rarely looked like putting an end to that run on Sunday.

Daly hammered Wasps into first-half lead with three long-range penalties, while Wade finished off a slick move.

From the halfway point, Gloucester needed a moment of magic to inspire a fightback but it never arrived, the visitors instead settling for a solitary penalty from World Player of the Year nominee Greig Laidlaw.

The victory is Wasps' second of the league season and moves them level with the Cherry & Whites on nine points after four rounds.

It took ten minutes for either side to break the deadlock and it was Daly from the tee, firing over from the halfway line after Gloucester were penalised at the line-out.

Wasps sought to extend their lead following another line-out, this time stolen by George Smith but a knock-on from the veteran flank halted a promising move.

The try did arrive after 20 minutes and Wade was the man to score it, Daly and Charles Piutau linking up before feeding the flying wing to dart under the posts, Ruaridh Jackson adding the extras.

Daly's second long-range penalty extended the lead to 13 – and completed his hat-trick with a 47-metre effort just a couple of minutes later.

Daly missed an early second-half penalty after a bright start from Wasps and the hosts looked completely in control when David Halaifonua was shown a red card.

It was the Cherry & Whites, however, who were next to register three points, as Wasps were pinged for holding on and Laidlaw obliged from the tee.

But Wasps had to wait just three minutes after that to record their second try of the afternoon – a penalty try awarded by referee Ian Tempest and converted by Jackson.

Gloucester sought for a way back into a game that was rapidly getting away from them but man-of-the-match Smith conjured up a huge tackle to force a knock-on and halt a promising move in its tracks.

The Wasps defence appeared unbreakable at times, while an exciting backline continued to sniff out openings, with the four-try bonus point still very much on the table.

Their hopes of that happening took a blow when Lorenzo Cittadini was also shown a red card seven minutes from time.

Gloucester used that to their advantage and looked to wrestle some late momentum from their hosts but even more impressive defence thwarted any hopes of a consolation score.

The scorers:

For Wasps:

Tries: Wade, penalty try

Cons: Jackson 2

Pens: Daly 3

For Gloucester:

Pen: Laidlaw

Teams:

Wasps: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Christian Wade, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 George Smith, 6 James Haskell (captain), 5 Bradley Davies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Simon McIntyre.

Replacements: 16 Ashley Johnson, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Sailosi Tagicakibau.

Gloucester: 15 Charlie Sharples, 14 David Halaifonua, 13 Billy Twelvetrees (captain), 12 James Hook, 11 Jonny May, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paddy McAllister.

Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Ross Moriarty, 20 Jacob Rowan, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Henry Purdy, 23 Rob Cook.

Referee: Ian Tempest

Assistant referees: Darren Gamage & Robin Goodliffe

Source: @premrugby