Wasps and Gloucester - History

 Only four clubs have been ever present in the top flight of English League Rugby. Bath & Leicester’s rivalry is well known, but the rivalry between Gloucester and Wasps, who meet at Kingsholm this weekend, has been just as entertaining over the years.

The rivalry started when the two sides battled it out for the title in the 1989/90 season. Gloucester had led for most of the season but on the final weekend they lost away to a Nottingham side featuring Brian Moore for the final time, meaning Wasps had to beat Saracens at Repton Avenue to take the league title, which they duly did, winning 24-6.

It wasn’t until 3^rd October 1998 that Wasps & Gloucester next contested a battle royale. In a league game at Kingsholm, Gloucester lead 9-0 at the break. In the second half Wasps got back into the game, trailing 12-6 deep into injury time. When Wasps got a penalty 45 meters out, they ran the ball, Alex King made a break and Will Green was on hand to crash over underneath the posts. Kenny Logan added the extras, leaving Wasps fans at the ground and at the bar at Repton Avenue watching on Sky feeling delirious, and the Kingsholm faithful not happy to say the least. Sky’s decision to interview Alex King & Will Green on the pitch did not prove to be one of their better decisions as the stewards struggled to hold back the unhappy Gloucester fans.

But what really took the rivalry on was a chain of events that started just before Christmas in 2001. The two sides had been due to face each other at Loftus Road for a league game, which was controversially called off after Gloucester protested about the pitch which they felt was dangerous and frozen in parts. Wasps Director of Rugby, Nigel Melville, didn’t agree and proceeded to hold a full contact training session on the pitch whilst Gloucester were on their coach heading home.

Nigel Melville soon followed the Gloucester team coach to the West Country, replacing Phillipe Saint-Andre as their Director of Rugby, handing over the reins to Warren Gatland and the re-arranged clash was one of his first games in charge. Wasps had lead 13-9 before Paul Volley and Robert Todd were sent off for a fight which reportedly carried on down the tunnel. Gloucester hesitated in taking off a back rower for a centre to replace Todd and the resulting delay lead to Wasps taking control of proceedings and winning 44-9.

The rivalry continued the following season. Wasps won 23-16 in a game that saw Gloucester lock Adam Eustace sent off after barely 3 minutes. Gloucester exacted revenge later that season at Kingsholm after a rare mistake from Gatland who had announced a weakened side in hope of turning up with a full team hoping to catch the Cherry & Whites unaware. It didn’t fool Gloucester and they recorded a 24-17 win. Gloucester finished top of the league, 15 points ahead of Wasps, but that counted for very little, as this was the first year of the playoffs. By finishing second, Wasps had a home semi-final against Northampton, whilst Gloucester had a bye into the final. Having despatched Bath to win the Parker Pen final a week after the semi-final, Wasps turned up at Twickenham battled hardened and in peak fitness, where as Gloucester had spent the three week gap stewing about having to play one more game to win the title they felt was rightly theirs.

The result was an emphatic 39-3 win to Wasps, who blew Gloucester away in the opening minutes. With the score at 13-3 I looked up at the big screen to see Phil Vickery puffing. Gloucester never even looked like getting back in the game, and Wasps took home the trophy.

Being the first side to finish top, but fail to win the title didn’t sit well with Gloucester. Some fans even turned up at Adams Park for the league match the following season with t-shirts saying “Gloucester RFC – Moral Premiership Champions 2002/03” and the league table on the back. Wasps got on with the job that evening, winning 20-12, the night before the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final.

The two sides next met at Adams Park in the Heineken Cup quarter final. A packed Adams Park saw a wonderful performance of skill and power from Wasps. Robert Howley opened the scoring following a clever one-two move with Stuart Abbott. Gloucester responded with a Henry Paul penalty before a moment that could have changed Wasps whole season; Paul Volley and Lawrence Dallaglio clashed heads, knocking both of them out. Phil Vickery came to the rescue, removing Volley’s gum-shield and making sure the flanker was breathing. A nervous few minutes followed, as Mark Lock and Martin Purdy stood on the touch line waiting to come on. But in a display of pure heroicness, Dallaglio got up and returned to join the pack. A minute later, Volley staggered to his feet and after a few wobbly steps, he too made his way back to his pack. The crowd went wild.

The Wasps pack dominated, winning a penalty try from a catch & drive move and another drive soon after saw Dallaglio score, despite reportedly not knowing where he was. Trevor Leota crashed over (there really is no other way to describe a Leota try without using the word “crashed” is there?) in the second half, before an interception try from Ayoola Erinle secured a 34-3 win. Wasps went on to beat Munster in the semi-final before Gloucester exacted revenge a week later at Kingsholm, despite a late Wasps fight back, but they failed to make it to the playoffs as Wasps secured a second title in a row with a win against Bath, to back up winning the Heineken Cup.

The next major clash between the two sides took place at the end of the 2005/06 season with a match at Kingsholm on the last weekend of the regular season to decide the final place in the playoffs. Wasps lead 20-8 at the break before Gloucester mounted an impressive fight back scoring some wonderful tries in the second half, to lead 32-20, but Wasps dug deep, scoring two late tries, including a winning score from Joe Worsley under the same post Will Green scored his famous try eight years earlier to seal a 37-32 win.

The rivalry continued in the 2007/08, including a wonderful game in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, where, boosted by the return of their England players (including one Mr P Vickery), Wasps bounced back from 21-8 down to win 29-26. Gloucester won both league games that season to finish top, a point ahead of Wasps but any hopes of a Twickenham showpiece were dashed when Andy Goode kicked a late drop goal to send Leicester through to the final instead of Gloucester.

Neither side has looked like winning honours since then, but games between the two have always been enjoyable. Wasps’ 35-6 win at Kingsholm in October 2009 and vital 26-24 win at Adams Park in April 2012, being the highlights. I am sure this weekend’s clash will add another chapter in what has been a truly unique sporting rivalry