London Wasps’ game of catch-up grows stronger with every encounter. Last night, at a damp Adams Park, they climbed into the play-offs positions in the Guinness Premiership for the first time this season and every other contender will glance warily in their direction after a run of seven successive league wins.

In the process they squeezed Sale Sharks out of the top four, which left Philippe Saint-Andre an unhappy director of rugby. The second-half riposte, which twice carried Sale to within four points, deserved at least a losing bonus point, Saint-Andre believed, and he was unhappy that it took Andrew Small, the referee, so long to brandish a yellow card for offences at the breakdown.

Yet that is Wasps for you. There is an edge to their game that carried them through, despite losing Phil Vickery, the England captain, with a sprained right knee and another international forward, Joe Worsley, to the sin-bin. Vickery will go for a scan as soon as possible to assess the extent of the damage, which occurred when he fell awkwardly in the first half.

Danny Cipriani’s goalkicking was as decisive as his delicate passing. Five penalty goals and two conversions gave the fly half 19 points, and Wasps displayed as solid a platform in the set-pieces as at any stage this season; the weakest area of their game was the number of turnovers conceded.

They received a generous assist after Charlie Hodgson had kicked an early penalty for Sale. Cipriani kicked out of defence to Ben Foden and when the Sale full back countered, his pass found Tom Voyce, the Wasps wing scoring in his second game back after three months out with a leg injury.

Saint-Andre is convinced that Foden will play full back for England if he concentrates on that position rather than scrum half, while the entry of Richard Wigglesworth, now England’s scrum half, helped to stem the Wasps tide. The home side had scored their second try, started and finished by Paul Sackey, but Wigglesworth’s arrival prompted 16 points in as many minutes through Hodgson’s kicking and a try superbly taken by Foden. Cipriani’s cool head and accurate boot, though, averted any idea of an upset.

Scorers: London Wasps: Tries: Voyce (8min), Sackey (46). Conversions: Cipriani 2. Penalty goals: Cipriani 5 (37, 57, 65, 71, 74). Sale Sharks: Try: Foden (63). Conversion: Hodgson. Penalty goals: Hodgson 4 (4, 51, 52, 67).

Scoring sequence (London Wasps first): 0-3, 7-3, 10-3 (half-time), 17-3, 17-6, 17-9, 20-9, 20-16, 23-16, 23-19, 26-19, 29-19.

London Wasps: J Lewsey; P Sackey, F Waters, R Flutey (rep: M van Gisbergen, 71), T Voyce; D Cipriani, E Reddan; T Payne (rep: T French, 41), R Ibañez (rep: J Ward, 60), P Vickery (rep: P Barnard, 30), S Shaw, R Birkett, J Haskell, T Rees (rep: J Worsley, 41; sin-bin 52-62), J Hart.

Sale Sharks: B Foden; M Cueto, L McAlister, L Thomas (rep: C Bell, 74), O Ripol (sin-bin, 57-67; rep: S Kuadey, 67); C Hodgson, S Martens (rep: R Wigglesworth, 47); L Faure (rep: E Roberts, 41), S Bruno (rep: N Briggs, 19-32), S Turner, C Jones (rep: Briggs, 49), D Schofield, J White (rep: S Cox, 27), M Lund, N Bonner-Evans (rep: B Cockbain, 41).

Referee: A Small.

Attendance: 9,286.