Gloucester go two from two after comfortable win

Colin Newboult
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Gloucester Rugby's Tom Marshall during the European Challenge Cup Final at the San Mames Stadium, Bilbao.

Gloucester continued their fine start to the 2019/20 Premiership campaign following a dominant 25-9 triumph over 2017 runners-up Wasps at Kingsholm on Saturday.

Scrum-half Joe Simpson, who spent 13 years at Wasps, celebrated his home league debut for the Cherry and Whites in style by scoring two tries against his former club.

Tom Marshall also scored two tries while Billy Twelvetrees added a penalty and a conversion with Lima Sopoaga kicking three penalties for Wasps.

Wasps conceded five penalties in the opening 10 minutes and, from the last of them, Twelvetrees put the home side in front with a simple kick.

That was the only score of a wholly forgettable first quarter as both sides struggled to come to terms with the rain-sodden conditions.

Gloucester wing Ollie Thorley looked set to give the crowd something to cheer when he collected Dan Robson’s kick to beat a couple of opponents, but the ball slipped from his grasp to leave the crowd slumbering.

However, Gloucester continued to have the better of possession and territory as their pack became increasingly dominant and it came as no surprise when the hosts picked up the first try.

From a platform in the visitors’ 22, Gloucester moved the ball along the three-quarter line for Jason Woodward to do the spadework by drawing in Josh Bassett to provide Marshall with an easy run-in.

Ten minutes later, Woodward was again in the thick of the action by skilfully scooping up possession and kicking ahead to force Wasps into conceding a five-metre scrum. Gloucester had a golden opportunity but they immediately blew it by giving away a penalty for a collapsed scrum.

It did not matter as, two minutes from half-time, they picked up a second try when Wasps fly-half Sopoaga knocked on for Simpson to pounce by twice fly-hacking the ball before sliding over.

Twelvetrees’ touchline conversion hit a post before Sopoaga put Wasps on the scoreboard with a penalty but they still trailed 13-3 at the interval.

After the restart Ruan Ackermann, when under no pressure, failed to collect a speculative kick and Wasps capitalised with a second penalty from Sopoaga.

The visitors had begun the second half strongly but their cause was not helped when their centre, Malakai Fekitoa, was yellow-carded for a cheap shot when his side had Gloucester under real pressure by pinning them on their own line.

Despite being down to 14, Wasps won a scrum penalty for Sopoaga to again succeed but the hosts put clear daylight between the teams when Simpson received a pass from Ackermann to race away and score.

Fekitoa returned from the sin-bin but it made no difference as Gloucester picked up their bonus-point with a second try from Marshall.

Elsewhere, promoted London Irish were brought back down to earth after succumbing to Sale Sharks 41-7 at the Madejski Stadium.

The Exiles opened their campaign with a victory over Wasps last week but were overpowered by the Sharks as Akker van der Merwe, Denny Solomona, Marland Yarde, Josh Beaumont, Rob du Preez and Rohan Janse van Rensburg secured the win for Steve Diamond’s men.

Sale face Bristol Bears next week, a team that were unable to build on their opening Premiership success. Pat Lam’s charges went down to Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop, despite Jake Heenan’s try and four Callum Sheedy penalties. In the end, Joe Marchant’s effort and 17 points from the boot of Marcus Smith was enough to give Quins a 22-17 victory.

Meanwhile, in the earlier game, Northampton Saints were too good for Worcester Warriors with Tom Collins, Taqele Naiyaravoro, George Furbank (twice) and Ollie Sleightholme all going over in a 35-16 win.

Bristol