Wasps England pair supply the class at Kingston
Newcastle Falcons 13 Wasps 32
AN 80-METRE try from Paul
Sackey helped Wasps win their
game in hand to climb into third
place and keep alive their hopes
of a home semi-final in the Guinness
Premiership play-offs.
Even without the rested trio of
Lawrence Dallaglio, Raphael
Ibanez and Tom Voyce, Wasps
had too much pace and guile for
a valiant but inexperienced Newcastle,
who made nine changes to
the side that beat Leicester to
give Steve Bates his first win as
acting director of rugby.
Wasps, whose eight-match
winning run came to grief at
leaders Gloucester on Sunday,
were always in control of a scrappy
encounter but it took them
until the 76th minute to secure
their try bonus point.
England fly-half Danny Cipriani,
nominated earlier in the day
for the PRA players' player of the
year, kicked five goals from six attempts
to help clinch a third win
of the season over the Falcons,
but their first at Kingston Park
for four years.
A fifth successive away win
took Ian McGeechan's men above
Sale and Harlequins in the table
and a sixth at the expense of relegated
Leeds in Saturday's final
programme could secure a second-
placed finish.
While Jonny Wilkinson was an
anticipated absentee, the 10,200
capacity crowd were denied one
last chance to see Matthew Tait,
Toby Flood and Ben Woods, who
are all leaving Kingston Park
after Saturday's final game at
Worcester.
Tait was a late withdrawal
with a hip injury, paving the way
for younger brother Alex to make
his ninth appearance but that
was short-lived when he went off
after only 12 minutes with a cut
head.
Tom May gave the Falcons an
early lead with a penalty but
Wasps were always the more adventurous
on attack and fullback
Ricki Flutey atoned for his
frailty under the high ball with a
series of incisive breaks.
England wing Sackey was also
a threat and Cipriani caused all
sorts of problems with his sleight
of hand yet both Wasps' first-half
tries were dour efforts, with
flankers James Haskell and Tom
Rees being driven over from close
range.
In contrast, Newcastle's firsthalf
tries were sparkling longrange
efforts, albeit against the
run of play.
Rob Miller, an 18-year-old flyhalf
introduced for only his third
appearance because of injury to
Tait, jinked through the heart of
the Wasps defence and his long
pass gave centre May a clear run
to the line.
Right winger Ollie Phillips
scored the Falcons' other try, collecting
Steve Jones' perfectlyjudged
kick after number eight
Russell Winter had seized on a
couple of handling errors by the
visitors.
While May and Miller missed
both conversions between them,
Cipriani kicked a penalty and a
conversion to nudge his side 15-
13 ahead at the break and he was
involved in the best try of the
match three minutes into the second
half.
Wasps turned over possession
deep inside their own half and
swept the ball along the line until
Cipriani went through a gap and
allowed Sackey to finish off a
brilliant 80-metre move.
Cipriani's touchline conversion
opened up a 22-13 lead and he
extended that to 12 points with a
59th-minute penalty.
Wasps maintained their domination
but did not grab the allimportant
fourth try until five
minutes from the end when
winger Josh Lewsey sliced
through a tired Newcastle defence
and Cipriani kicked his
fifth goal.
9:43am Thursday 8th May 2008
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