Newcastle Falcons 29 Newport Gwent Dragons 24
Newcastle Falcons marched one step closer to the semi-finals of the EDF Energy Cup at Kingston Park on Saturday, with a bonus point victory over Welsh side Newport Gwent Dragons.
Scoring four tries in a match full of incident, there was drama right until the final whistle as a never-say-die Dragons side pushed the hosts all the way.
But in the end a gutsy Falcons side held out, meaning that victory in their final pool match at Wasps would all but book their place in the final four of the competition.
Sporting their blue, red, white and green kit in aid of the Wooden Spoon Society, the Falcons welcomed back World Cup hero Mathew Tait to first team action, with the 21-year-old centre combining with John Rudd for an early foray down the left wing after Newport fly half Aled Thomas had missed with his first penalty attempt on eight minutes.
The deadlock was broken moments later as home fly half Toby Flood stroked over a penalty from 30 metres after hands in the ruck, before the first try finally arrived midway through the opening half.
When it came it was a well-crafted score, Tait’s drifting run and inside pass to Flood freeing captain Joe McDonnell to bash a hole in the fringe defence before popping off the ground to Flood, whose flip pass fed in Jones for a jinking score.
Flood added the extras from in front of the posts, and it got better for the Falcons when their Welsh opponents were reduced to 14 men with the sin-binning of flanker Joe Bearman for killing the ball on the floor.
From the resulting line out Newcastle grabbed their second try as Kiwi openside Brent Wilson piled over the line from a well organised and powerful rolling maul â€" the point of attack shifting effectively to free up Wilson for his barrelling finish.
Flood’s touchline conversion sailed through for a 17-0 lead, and it seemed there was no way back for Newport on the half hour when lock Andrew Hall joined Bearman in the sin bin for yet more skulduggery at the ruck.
But not only did the 13 men fight gamely to stop the Newcastle rolling maul, they poached a shock try as scrum half Lee Dickson’s attempted offload was picked off by fullback Martyn Thomas, who sped home despite the attentions of England speedster Mathew Tait behind him.
Aled Thomas converted to narrow the gap to ten at the interval, but the Falcons came flying out of the blocks for the second half as Ollie Phillips grabbed their third try of the night as he gathered a Toby Flood cross kick in the right corner to dive over.
Still though the Dragons, captained by ex-Falcons skipper Colin Charvis, would not lie down, and they grabbed a lifeline ten minutes in to the half as prop Rhys Thomas emerged from under a heap of bodies with the ball over the Newcastle line to again rein the gap to ten.
A back spasm saw Flood leave the field as an all-Tait centre pairing took shape for the first time with Alex joining brother Mathew from the bench, but despite an early big smash tackle from the England Under-19s star he was soon back under his own posts as Dragons scrum half Andy Williams spun over the line for their third try.
Thomas’s conversion took the scores to 22-19 as the Falcons just kept their noses in front â€" Steve Jones nearly breaking the line with a nice show-and-go while Geoff Parling’s rampaging run down the right threatened to produce a bonus point score.
Newcastle’s cause was done no favours with the second-half sin-binning of Mathew Tait for killing the ball as a tense finale ensued, but on the back of good forward pressure there was not too long to wait for the fourth try.
From line out ball on the 22 the hosts set up the rolling maul, before fly half Jones produced a sublime pop pass for bullocking winger John Rudd on the crash ball. The former Northampton man bulldozed his way through the first tackler, sprinting 20 metres before being hauled down by the last man. Undeterred, Rudd rose to his feet to fall over the line, sparking jubilant scenes in front of a packed South Terrace.
Jones’ conversion looked to have sealed the deal at 29-19, but there was still time for high drama as Dragons prop Rhys Thomas grabbed a second try straight from the restart as persistent pick-and-go work paid off.
With the seconds ebbing away the Falcons pack looked to be running the clock down, before firing a pass back to Jones who spilled the ball on his own line, frantically hacking clear as the onrushing attackers beared down on the loose ball.
Thankfully some semblance of control was restored as a game defensive effort in the last minute forced the Dragons to knock-on out wide, as the Falcons took a major step towards the semi-finals.
Newcastle Falcons:
Tries: Jones, B Wilson, Phillips, Rudd
Cons: Flood 2, Jones
Pens: Flood
Newport Gwent Dragons:
Tries: Rhys Thomas 2, Martyn Thomas, Williams
Cons: Aled Thomas 2[/b]
you do look a seriously strong outfit this year, I'm still backing tigers for everything as I do every year though!
