Newcastle's hopes of winning the Premiership suffered a severe setback last night in an unexpected defeat after a bruising, no-holds-barred battle at Loftus Road.
Newcastle's goal-kicker Rob Andrew failed with two penalties in the last 10 minutes to leave his side without a league point for the second time in four days after Sunday's defeat by Saracens, their nearest rivals. But Newcastle still lead on scoring difference with four matches remaining.
Wasps quickly dispelled any notion that Newcastle might be granted a comfortable passage by putting in successive big hits on Andrew and Gary Armstrong that promised an intensely physical contest.
Wasps, driven deep into their own 22 by the aggressive Newcastle pack, survived early attempts to second-guess their hard-pressed defence before fashioning a breakout that yielded a 45-metre Gareth Rees penalty when the leaders killed the ball in a midfield ruck. But within five minutes Andrew had levelled with a long-range penalty for offside.
On the half-hour, Wasps pressed Newcastle with a series of versatile counter-attacks and deservedly regained the lead with a second Rees penalty goal. The Canadian full-back steered his kick home from 35 metres after Garath Archer had infringed by illegally preventing Mark Weedon from rejoining play.
Three minutes before the break, Newcastle fell two scores behind after Wasps cleverly changed the point of attack from the right flank to the left. When a ruck broke up, the ball passed through three pairs of hands to their hooker Trevor Leota, whose pass - which looked a trifle forward - was collected on the bounce by Laurence Scrase, who scored at the flag. Rees's conversion put Wasps 13-3 in front.
A sudden downpour seemed to have the effect of dousing Wasps's fire and bringing Newcastle to their senses. Two minutes into the second half, the Tyneside club cut the deficit with an exciting solo try by the tireless Armstrong. The scrum-half darted forward from the 22, barged his way past Rees and grounded the ball to the left of the posts, leaving Andrew with a simple conversion.
Newcastle then laid siege to the Wasps line without further reward until the 56th minute when the vigilant Armstrong spotted a gap, picked up at the base of a ruck and plunged over the line for his second try, putting his side in the lead for the first time. Andrew added the conversion points.
However, Wasps responded with a splendidly co-ordinated counter-attack down the left, setting up a rolling maul close to Newcastle's line. A series of four scrums followed and when the Wasps pack drove towards the left corner, their scrum-half, Mike Friday, was at hand to claim the decisive pushover try.
London Irish's changed strip of funereal black looked sadly appropriate at Franklins Gardens last night as they were easily beaten 33-18 by Northampton. The Exiles had won four of their five league games but, should there be relegation, the trapdoor beckons in the face of trips to Saracens and Bath.
