They have had a couple of big wins at Kingsholm lately, but there was a sense that this one brought Gloucester the greatest satisfaction. Wasps arrived in a blaze of glory at a ground they have never been afraid of, and Gloucester put an end to their seven-match winning streak with the kind of focused display that wins as much admiration here as any dazzling try-fest.
“I’m incredibly proud of the effort,” said David Humphreys, their director of rugby. “I thought it was a really comprehensive win, although not necessarily on the scoreboard. Wasps are probably the most complete team in the Premiership.”
Gloucester managed it despite the loss of four players to injuries of some severity, three of them in the first half. Billy Burns’s looked the worst. In the final quarter, he became the second player to leave on a stretcher, having come on for Rob Cook in the sixth minute. He was sent to hospital for an X-ray on a leg, as was Henry Purdy, who departed midway through the first half.
The stretcher came out for Cook as well, but he walked off unaided after a blow to the head had left him prone for a few minutes. He was well after the game, but will observe the usual protocols. Which leaves Paddy McAllister, who was the other player to leave on a stretcher, having twisted a knee after half an hour.
By then Gloucester were 10-3 to the good, but Richard Hibbard’s try and an early Greig Laidlaw penalty were the least a side might expect having dominated territory and possession as Gloucester had. Wasps were patently a degree or two down on their recent pyrotechnics. The pitch was heavy, and so seemed the legs of their normally irrepressible runners. Only Christian Wade, who has missed a few games of late, looked as sharp as usual, finishing brilliantly past three players for the try that brought Wasps back into the game at the start of the second half. Laidlaw’s second penalty just shy of the hour was enough to clinch the win, despite Jimmy Gopperth’s drop-goal attempt with the last play of the match.
“When we play like we can, it takes a very good team to beat us,” Dai Young said, “but if we don’t quite hit our straps we’re still going to lose games. It wasn’t quite our day today. Gloucester controlled the game and were better than us.”
As much as Young plays down where his team are, Wasps continue to build. Their move to Coventry has met with success beyond any reasonable expectation and they are making some noise in the transfer market. The latest rumours have Kurtley Beale as a target. Young did little to scotch them.
“We constantly say when any quality player comes on the market we’d be interested in them. But so would a number of other Premiership teams. It’s unfair for us to talk about players who are not ours. I think we’ve been pretty consistent with that. We’ve signed four players and been linked to 104. I think we have to adopt the policy of announcing players when we sign them. Do you want Kurtley Beale? Yeah. And we’ll have the full-back, and the winger. I’ll give you a list.”
Otherwise, Young remains the picture of modesty. Wasps still sit in the top four, but he is adamant that the battle just to qualify for Europe is a live one. Humphreys echoed that feeling, as Gloucester moved up to sixth with this win. Both sides have European campaigns to negotiate as well as their Premiership challenges.
“There’s no point getting hung up from week to week about where you sit in the table,” Humphreys said. “That’s the nature of the competition. One or two wins take you up; one or two losses bring you down.”
And now the inevitable injuries are starting to bite.
