Wasps swatted at Kingsholm

Jonny May scored two of Gloucester's six tries

Gloucester delivered the perfect Christmas present to their fans with a commanding 39-10 victory over Wasps in their Boxing Day fixture at Kingsholm.

Bryan Redpath's men brushed off a recent run of lacklustre form with first half tries from Luke Narraway and winger Jonny May, who scored twice, powering the home side into a 19-10 lead at the break.

But it was during the second half that Gloucester ran riot, adding a further 20 unanswered points as Henry Trinder went over once and fullback Olly Morgan claimed a brace to seal a much needed win.

The hosts began strongly and grabbed the lead in the ninth minute after a powerful rolling maul from the lineout took them to the Wasps five metre line.

Luke Narraway picked up at the back of the scrum to crash over to take the five points and Burns added the conversion to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.

Gloucester kept up the pressure and Narraway was involved again eight minutes later when he put May over for a brilliantly worked try after an excellent break by Burns took him deep into Wasps territory.

Superb

Burns slotted the extras to stretch the home side's lead to 14-0 after 18 minutes.

Wasps hit back five minutes later when Joe Simpson and Ben Broster combined to go close to the Gloucester line before Elliot Daly barged over to claim the five points.

Nicky Robinson struck a fine conversion to make it 14-7 with 15 minutes to the break and seven minutes later Daly narrowly failed to close the gap to four when his long range penalty fell just short.

But, with just six minutes left on the clock, May collected a neat pass and raced down the right touchline to dive in and ground the ball at full stretch.

The television official confirmed a superb try by the winger but Burns was unable to add the conversion from out wide to restore Gloucester's 14 point lead.

Robinson however made no mistake on the stroke of half time, sending a very low penalty just over to take the visitors into the break 19-10 down.

Dominant

Eight minutes after the restart Burns took his Premiership points into three figures with a well struck penalty from 39 metres to make it 22-10.

Moments later Trinder got his name on the scoreboard when he booted ahead before pouncing on Simpsons fumble to grab the try.

Burns failed to find the posts with his kick, leaving the hosts on 27-10, but after just two more minutes he had another chance when an increasingly dominant Gloucester went in again.

This time it was Olly Morgan who collected on the left touchline and dived over in the corner for a fantastic try after the hosts spread the ball wide.

Burns however, was again unable to hit the target from a difficult touchline kick but with the hosts firmly in the driving seat it seemed to matter little.

It took just three minutes for Gloucester to open up the Wasps defence again, Trinder putting Morgan clear for the fullback to run in his second try.

Miserable

Burns made no mistake this time, taking the score to 39-10 with his conversion, although replays subsequently revealed that Morgan had in fact dropped the ball as he went over

Richard Haughton almost made a miserable day at the office even worse when he was caught napping behind his own line and nearly conceded a try with eight minutes to go.

But the TMO spared him considerable embarrassment when he decided that the Wasps fullback had got his hands to the loose ball a fraction of a second ahead of Charlie Sharples.

There was by now no way back for the Londoners and soon after the referee brought to an end what had been a thoroughly miserable afternoon for the visitors.