WASPS gambled and won at Adams Park on Saturday.

Their Premiership challenge looked to be going up in smoke after they let Bristol chip away at their 12-0 head-start and turn it into a five-point lead of their own after 80 minutes.

But a bold decision by captain Lawrence Dallaglio hauled Wasps' Premiership challenge out of the fire as Mark McMillan pounced from the base of a scrum to score the winning try in the ninth minute of added time.

McMillan had only been on the pitch 20 minutes after flying back from Scotland A duty in Ireland earlier in the day.

But McMillan's try was only half the job, and Wasps still needed Dave Walder to hold his nerve from 30 metres to ping over the conversion with the last kick of an exhilarating match.

However, the platform for Wasps' 11th-hour reprieve had been set by skipper Dallaglio four minutes earlier.

Four Bristol tries had given them a 30-25 lead, but when Wasps won a penalty after 76 minutes - which could have reduced the gap to two points and left enough time for Wasps to squeeze another penalty out of their guests - Dallaglio went for broke.

He instructed Walder to kick for touch and although their catch and drive was stopped short that time, Wasps spent the rest of the game camped on the Bristol line before getting their reward with the very last play of the match.

On another day they might have been awarded a penalty try before McMillan's intervention, as Bristol conceded three penalties and had Andrew Blowers sin-binned in a desperate attempt to protect their lead.

But McMillan and Walder made it academic.

Dallaglio said: "I think I've learnt over 17 years when to go for the posts and when not to.

"We've scored three tries, there was a five-point gap - it was do or die for us.

"When we were eight points adrift, that was the time to close the gap and put the pressure on them a bit, but then there was no point kicking a goal and losing by two points.

"You're either going to win the game or lose it, and fortunately it paid off.

"I've made some bad decisions in my time, but that wasn't one of them."

And McGeechan backed his skipper.

He said: "Lawrence was spot on. We'd got the momentum back and by doing that we were keeping it so all the pressure was on them.

"Last week when Bristol played Gloucester they shut the game down. They are quite capable of coming into your 22 and playing six, seven, eight minutes down there so you might not get another opportunity."