Wasps edge dead rubber

London Wasps ended their LV=Cup campaign on a winning note after claiming a 9-3 victory over Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.

Neither side had a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals ahead of the contest, but it was the visitors who claimed the spoils in a low-scoring affair.

Wasps fly-half Dave Walder claimed all nine points for the visitors after opposite number Rob Miller had put Falcons ahead with a penalty of his own on 14 minutes.

Indeed it was a special day for Walder as he captained Wasps instead of Joe Worsley with the Londoners having some big names away on RBS Six Nations and England Saxons duty.

It looked like Alex Tait had crossed for a try in the very first minute, but Newcastle were pulled back for crossing and they had to wait until Miller's 14th-minute penalty for the lead.

Dominate

And it was Miller's kick downfield that sparked a massive period of Falcons pressure with wing Danny Williams forcing Walder to concede a five-metre scrum.

Newcastle battered away at the Wasps line but Tait was again guilty of running behind one of his own players and another penalty for crossing allowed Wasps to clear.

The Falcons dominated possession and territory for much of the half, but the Newcastle scrum lost its edge in the final 10 minutes of the opening 40 and were lucky not to concede a pushover try. Walder made do with an injury-time penalty to level the scores at the break.

Newcastle brought on Carl Hayman and Grant Shiells to bolster their front row at the start of the second half and Wasps were immediately penalised at the first scrum but it did little to halt the number of errors on both sides.

Walder kicked a 57th penalty to make it 6-3 and with both sides using the second half to run their benches there was precious little fluent play, much to disgust of the 4,651 crowd who let their feelings be known in no uncertain terms.

With three minutes left Walder kicked his third penalty for 9-3 and that was enough to see Wasp through to a victory of little consequence.