Wasps come from behind to edge out Newcastle Falcons 22-23

Newcastle Falcons 22-23 Wasps, Kingston Park
Scorecard

Wasps dominated the final quarter to come from behind as they edged out Newcastle Falcons 22-23 in their Gallagher Premiership encounter at Kingston Park on Friday.

The win has seen Dai Young's men consolidate their position at the third place with 19 points while Newcastle Falcons are at 10th place after securing their second losing bonus point in five games.

Lima Sopoaga missed a long-range penalty to begin with but Wasps got off the mark in the 12th minute when Josh Bassett crashed in the corner but the home side bounced back hard when a combination of Sinoti Sinoti and Simon Hammersley sent Mark Wilson over the line in the 18th minute as the scores were levelled 5-5 at the end of the first quarter.

A 23rd minute penalty goal from Lima Sopoaga got Wasps into lead but Johnny Williams forced his way over at the half-hour mark and Toby Flood kicked a conversion and a penalty to make it 15-8 but Anthony Watson's try at the stroke of half-time reduced the gap between the teams to just two points heading into the break.

Newcastle Falcons were quick to get off the block when Williams went over the line for the second time in the game in the 48th minute and Flood improved it to make it 22-13 which could have been even better for the home side but Tom Penny's try was correctly disallowed.

Wasps seized on the momentum and South African international Juan de Jongh touched down in the 60th minute and Sopoaga kicked a conversion and a penalty to complete a 22-23 victory.

"It's all about getting results and we're happy to have done that. We've had two six-day turnarounds and come to two difficult places in Sale and Newcastle and edged two results that could have gone either way," said Young.

"We showed a lot of guts in the end. We tried to throw it away but we came through. Newcastle will be disappointed because of the number of line breaks they made and they couldn't quite finish them off.

"We found a way to stay in the game and see ourselves home. The quality we had coming off the bench made a big difference. Everybody talks about Nathan Hughes and his ball-carrying but he made some big interventions defensively and Dan Robson added a bit of tempo."