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Replacement Ryan Lamb kicked a penalty five minutes from time to give London Irish their first win of their Anglo-Welsh Cup campaign as they ground out a 12-11 victory against Cardiff.

Irish led 6-3 at the break thanks to a penalty apiece from Tom Homer and Peter Hewat, with Ceri Sweeney kicking a penalty of his own for Cardiff.

Hewat and Sweeney exchanged penalties after the interval before a breakaway try for scrum-half Richie Rees put the Blues 11-9 ahead, but Lamb stepped up to seal the win with Sweeney missing a tough long-range penalty in stoppage time.

The Blues made the brighter start with ball in hand, Sweeney doing much of the probing with several slick inside passes and a well-weighted cross-kick for wing Richard Mustoe, but it was the Exiles who took the lead as Cardiff's midfield defence was caught offside and Homer landed the resulting long-range penalty.

The hosts hit back with a flowing attacking movement which ended when hooker Gareth Williams knocked on a pass from lock Deiniol Jones, but Sweeney levelled the scores when Irish failed to roll away at the tackle area.

Irish began to find their feet and, with the Blues giving away a penalty for offside, wing Hewat blasted over a penalty from just short of halfway to give the visitors a 6-3 half-time advantage.

That lead was extended within moments of the resumption as Hewat knocked over another long-range penalty and the Exiles should have scored the game's opening try seconds later, but prop Clarke Dermody spilled the ball with wing John Rudd free outside him.

Sweeney trimmed the lead to three points with his second penalty and the Blues claimed the lead for the first time moments later after a loose pass in midfield by Irish fly-half Chris Malone.

Lock Jones flicked the loose ball to Sweeney who found scrum-half Rees outside him. Rees still had 40 metres to go but he outpaced the cover and stepped inside the covering Peter Richards to score an unconverted try, confirmed by the video official.

But, when Cardiff prop Taufa'ao Filise was penalised by referee JP Doyle at a scrum Lamb made no mistake with a 35 metre penalty from the right side of the field to snatch victory.

Wasps took another step towards the semi-finals with a hard-fought 21-14 victory over struggling Gloucester.

Trailing 14-3, Wasps' comeback was sparked by the arrival of scrum-half Joe Simpson off the bench in the 50th minute.

Simpson scored a try and inspired a Wasps side huffing and puffing in the face of a fading force.

Wasps kept pressing and were rewarded with a penalty after five minutes, conceded by Adam Eustace and kicked by Eoghan Hickey.

Freddie Burns missed a penalty for the visitors on 17 minutes but soon made amends. After good work by flanker Apolosi Satala, Burns arrowed through a narrow gap for the game's first try and converted to make it 7-3. Will Matthews kept Wasps from going further behind when he charged down a drop-goal attempt by Burns in the 34th minute and Gloucester were worth their interval lead.

With just two minutes gone in the second half Gloucester had extended their lead. Wasps made a nonsense of a simple kick ahead by Burns, whose second prod at the rolling ball went straight between the legs of Hickey. Burns chased it over the line and went behind the posts to make his own conversion simple.

Wasps battled back and a fine example of ball-winning by Simon Shaw armed Tom Varndell with the ball to attack Gloucester's left flank. Olly Morgan showed Varndell the outside and the wing changed gear and raced over the line. Hickey's attempted conversion flew wide.

Dave Walder missed a penalty on 53 minutes but Wasps regained the lead five minutes later following a Gloucester lineout blunder. Ben Phillips overthrew close to his own line, Wasps pressure prevented Gloucester's defence covering and Simpson dived over from close range, Walder adding the conversion.

Hickey hit the post with a massive penalty attempt from halfway before things turned sour for Gloucester in the 68th minute. Simpson scooped up a ball won against the head and, in their desperation to prevent a try, Gloucester killed the ball. Walder rifled home the penalty and referee Fox sent Scott Lawson to the bin.

Another Walder goal after 75 minutes, rebounding inwards off the left-hand post, sealed victory.

Harlequins had little difficulty in overcoming a substandard Newcastle Falcons side 19-8 in this second round tie at Kingston Park with Rory Clegg scoring 14 of their points on returning to his old ground.

Sam Smith scored Quins' only try on the half-hour but with Clegg making the most of a glut of penalties conceded by the Falcons the visitors were always on course for their first win of the tournament.

Michael Tait crossed late on for a consolation try for the Falcons who remain winless from their opening two games.

Clegg sent over a penalty with exactly two minutes on the clock for an offside. An up-and-under from Clegg got Harlequins on the attack again and when Falcon flanker Ed Williamson infringed at a ruck on the 22 the visitors fly-half had no difficulty in again slotting over the penalty to make it 6-0.

Almost immediately a similar offence near halfway gave Newcastle the chance to hit back, and Rob Miller's effort just crept over the crossbar.

The recovery was short-lived however as Harlequins full-back Ross Chisholm broke from defence, winger Smith took the pass, chipped ahead and raced through a stunned defence to touchdown with Clegg converting.

Miller had another long-range penalty effort that drifted harmlessly wide and the Falcons still trailed by 10 points at the interval.

Newcastle conceded their third penalty of the game early in the second half - Clegg again taking advantage to stretch the visitors' lead to 16-3. The same player was then well wide with a much closer attempt, but upon reverting to long distance territory comfortably found the range to make it a 16-point advantage with 20 minutes remaining.

Newcastle indiscretions were now coming thick and fast but Clegg missed again and then when Harlequins put a kick to touch, the lineout move quickly fizzled out. The home side they found themselves unable to break out of their own 22 and continued to concede penalties. Clegg was wide once more with the boot however and when Harlequins elected for a scrum under the posts the ball popped out and Gcobani Bobo was able to clear for the home side.

Against all the odds and with just three minutes remaining Miller broke from defence for the Falcons, crossed halfway, and when the ball went down, replacement centre Tait scooped it up and stormed over for an unconverted try.

PA Sport