The weather dictated that there would be no cricket in Northampton yesterday, and there were those among the sell-out crowd at Franklin’s Gardens who probably felt that there was very little rugby either. Far from being intimidated by the Wasps’ pack, the home eight gave it a decent shot, with their captain, Tom Palmer, Rigney, Mark Regan and Dan Hyde all punching above their weight. Not only did Ross kick poorly at goal, but his kicking out of hand – so often a strong point of the diminutive outside-half’s game – was badly awry. It was no surprise when he was replaced by Duncan Hodge at the break, but Ross’s fellow Scot missed with his own first shot at goal, which struck an upright.Leeds enjoyed a bright passage midway through the first half, though all too often the ball was spilled in contact, especially by the backs. The Tykes forwards did rather better, and it was they who kept Leeds in the game.

When they did establish a foothold in enemy territory, Gordon Ross failed miserably with two straightforward penalties. “We like to move the ball, but this was a very difficult pitch to play on,” he said. “But once our big names came on, we were mostly in control.”Wasps opened with two penalties from Mark van Gisbergen before Leeds had a sniff of their line. But despite a powerful finish, Leeds didn’t deserve to win and can have no complaints about the result.Once Leeds moved in front, Wasps brought on their big guns – Lawrence Dallaglio, Simon Shaw, Ben Gotting and Craig Dowd – and their scrummage took on a more convincing look.

They even managed to steal a ball against the head as Leeds threatened to snatch an unlikely win in the seventh minute of stoppage time.Wasps’ director of rugby, Warren Gatland, was pleased with the result. Wasps moved to within one point of Bath at the top of the Premiership table with a hard-fought if unremarkable victory against Leeds at a sodden Headingley yesterday. Judging by the deflated spirits around him, they do not have a cat’s hope in hell.Newcastle: Tries Britz, Vyvyan, Shaw, Dowson; Conversions Walder 4; Penalties Walder 3. Sale: Tries Hanley, Cueto, Mayor; Conversions Hodgson 3; Penalties Hodgson 4.Newcastle: J Shaw (D Lilley 58); T May, J Noon, M Mayerhofler, M Stephenson; D Walder, J Grindal (H Charlton 47); I Peel (M Hurter 30), N Makin (M Thompson 55), M Ward (Peel 53), G Archer (C Hamilton 64), S Grimes, J Dunbar, W Britz (P Dowson 64), H Vyvyan (capt).Sale: J Robinson; M Cueto, J Baxendell, C Mayor, S Hanley; C Hodgson, N Walshe; A Sheridan, A Titterrell (M Cairns 62), B Stewart (S Turner 62), I Fullarton, J White, P Anglesea (capt, H Perrett 57), A Sanderson, C Jones.Referee: A Spreadbury (Somerset).. But rugby has changed out of all recognition in the last 15 years or so, not least in the riot of chatter at scrum, line-out and breakdown. A majority of players now multi-task by offering the official a running commentary on the match in which they are participating, and referees who attempt to whistle them into silence often hyperventilate before half-time. Spreadbury prefers to beat the blabbermouths at their own game, and does it brilliantly.Hodgson did some brilliant things, too.

Sale may have finished second in the scrap for possession and territory – once Newcastle tightened up their scrummaging by introducing Marius Hurter off the bench after half-an-hour, they edged all the important contests – but the cleverest footballing outside-half in England performed a loaves-and-fishes act for his side In fact, Sale might easily have scored three more tries. Steve Hanley was denied twice by unfortunate bounces; Jason Robinson would certainly have made it to the left corner had Jos Baxendell played it through the hands instead of throwing a cut-out pass. When Hodgson was given bullets to fire, he looked seriously dangerous.Under the circumstances, it was more than a little cruel that he should have been responsible for Newcastle’s winning try in the 76th minute. Hodgson had just kicked a gem of a penalty to give his side a three-point advantage at 33-30 when Nick Walshe, his scrum-half, took the ball into a ruck from the restart. Mark Cueto came off his wing to perform the clearance duties, and his pass, marginally slower than Walshe’s specialist variety, gave the rampant Vyvyan the chance of a charge-down on the No 10. Newcastle have qualified for next season’s Heineken Cup; Sale must fight their way through the end-of-term wildcard tournament to achieve the same end “It will be extremely difficult,” acknowledged Mallinder. This he duly completed, and from the ensuing five-metre scrum, Phil Dowson pumped his way to the Sale line with half the Falcons’ pack behind him.So there you have it.