WASPS boss Dai Young has admitted that Wasps were lucky to beat Gloucester at the weekend after a first-half performance that probably should have cost them the match.

The black and golds were actually 13-10 in front after 40 minutes, but could have been about 15 points behind.

Yound said: “I don’t think we played well. We had a 20-minute period that we can be pleased with, but in the first half we were poor.

“Going in at half time we were disappointed with the way we’d played, but pleased to be going in 13-10.

“Gloucester should have been at least a couple of scores in front. We’d lost about 70 per cent of possession and territory but we hung in there and we were still in front.

“That’s the mark of a team that’s growing. You’re not going to play well every week but you have to stick in there, and we did that well.

“In the second half we felt if we could get our hands on the ball we had the capability to cause them problems, and in the first 20 minutes we stepped up and took our opportunities.”

Two quick tries put them 33-17 in front and it looked like game over until Gloucester roared back at them in the final stages.

Young said: “With 11 or 12 minutes to go we’d put ourselves out of sight.

“It wasn’t a case of us stopping playing. Gloucester are a very good team and if they get their hands on the ball in any area they can score tries.

“We coughed the ball up in the last ten minutes and gave them opportunities, and everybody was on the edge of their seats in the last five.”