Wilkinson edged out by Tindall's Gloucester

Dean Ryan watched his Gloucester side smother Newcastle's attacking flair to stay top of the Guinness Premiership.

Head coach Ryan pointed to the fact his side outscored the Falcons by two tries to one as fly half Ryan Lamb marginally got the better of the man whose England shirt he covets.

There was little to choose between the young pretender and Jonny Wilkinson.

The current England No 10 missed two kicks at goal — one of them from 55 metres — while doing much to keep Newcastle in the game. Lamb, on the other hand, engineered Gloucester's opening try and landed two conversions and a late penalty to seal Gloucester's win as Newcastle picked up a losing bonus point.

Ryan said: "Newcastle is a difficult place to come and win but I thought our focus was good and we stayed together throughout the game and did very well.

"There is a danger with Newcastle that you get sucked in and enter into the way they want to play, which is like Sevens with 30 players on the field. But I thought we were competent defensively and we built the win off the back of a superb scrum where we did a bit of damage and really didn't get rewarded for that.

"It's been a difficult campaign through the World Cup and it's nice to get a win like this before the Six Nations disruption. We've developed a really good mode of game to win tight matches in Europe and in the Premiership like this and we look a complete side."

While Wilkinson looked sharp, it was Mathew Tait at full back who stood out for Newcastle, something that will have interested England coach Brian Ashton.

Newcastle boss John Fletcher said: "Mathew Tait can play anywhere in the outside backs. People get fixated by the number on his back but it really doesn't matter.

"Things didn't go our way today and you have to be at the top of your game against this Gloucester side.

"Unfortunately, we had some illness in the camp with Matt Thompson ruled out and a couple of the players, Lee Dickson and Geoff Parling, had to have injections to stop them vomiting. We had a few missed opportunities and we dropped a few passes and tried to force it now and then.

"We felt the game was there for the taking and we're not too happy about the fact Wilkinson was being held off the ball when they scored. How the referee didn't see that I'll never know."

Lamb's reverse pass set up a simple opening Gloucester try for Iain Balshaw while Russell Winter put in Geoff Parling for Newcastle's opener.

Olivier Azam scored Gloucester's second from a line-out, but the hooker appeared to run into his own man before he crossed. Lamb converted and made it 17-10 with a penalty before Wilkinson kicked a 40-metre penalty. But Lamb kicked another from in front of the posts three minutes later to restore the seven-point gap.