Lamb silences his rivals
Ryan Lamb got one over on his rival for the England fly-half jersey as he helped guide Gloucester to an 18-17 victory over Wasps.
By Tony Curtis
Last Updated: 26/01/08 5:42pm
Ryan Lamb got one over on his rival for the England fly-half jersey as he helped guide Gloucester to an 18-17 victory over Wasps.
Lamb has been in impressive form this season, however the 21-year-old has had to settle for a place in the Saxons squad while Wasps No.10 Danny Cipriani battles it out for a place in the England 22 to take on Wales on February.
However, it was Lamb who stole the show at Kingsholm - despite his second-half sin-binning - as Cipriani struggled to find his form.
Lamb landed all six of his penalties in a scrappy encounter, while Cipriani missed three of his six efforts at goal.
With Cipriani below-par, Wasps were also not helped by the moments of ill-discipline that saw England forwards James Haskell and Tom Palmer yellow carded in the first half.
However, they gave their hosts a few scares after the break - with tries from James Buckland and Dominic Waldouck making the missed penalties all the more costly.
Lamb opened the scoring on three minutes with a simple shot at goal - and although Cipriani had two efforts to level matters, he could not find his range.
Lamb doubled his side lead on 16 minutes, and although Cipriani finally opened his account a minute later, his rival quickly made it 9-3.
Departure
Another missed Cipriani effort was followed by the departure of Haskell for 10 minutes. The England flanker, having just been warned by the referee David Pearson, was guilty of not rolling away from the tackle as Gloucester looked for quick ball.
However, despite having an extra man and an extended spell on the visitors' line, Gloucester could not find a way through.
And it was only when Palmer replaced Haskell in the bin 10 minutes later that the home side were able to extend their lead - with Lamb's fourth penalty.
It was no surprise that Gloucester moved into a 15-3 lead immediately after the interval, with Lamb again producing the goods.
That score soon became 18-3 with another penalty from Lamb - with a mazy run from James Simpson-Daniel setting up the position.
Lamb, though, felt the wrath of the referee when he was the third player yellow carded for killing the ball in 52 minutes.
And Wasps took full advantage as Buckland crashed over for a try. Cipriani kicked the penalty to the corner and a catch and drive from the lineout saw Buckland apply the finish. Cipriani converted to cut the deficit to eight points.
For the first time in the game, Wasps had the momentum - and although Lamb was back on the pitch, Waldouck breached the Gloucester defence on 65 minutes. Despite having a standing start, the Wasps centre was able to cross without a Gloucester player able to lay a hand on him. Cipriani, with renewed confidence, landed the conversation.
Gloucester, through Lamb, were able to regain a foothold in the match with the fly-half pinning the visitors back with a series of kicks to the corner.
And despite Wasps best efforts, they could not find the decisive score.
