By simonh
November 15 2004

After three straight wins that saw Tykes climb to the giddy heights of sixth in the Premiership the team was brought back to earth with a miserable thud after being out-muscled by a potent Falcons pack....

....who drained the resistance from the visiting forwards before unleashing their sharp backs to record a 29-16 victory at a bitterly cold Kingston Park.

The surprise of the match was that Tykes went into the interval 13 –5 up, each side having scored a try, a poor reflection of the home side’s general dominance. What it did show was that in the first half Tykes were resolute and composed in defence, and took their attacking chances when they came. Alas, the Falcons pulled their socks up in the second half, scoring a further three tries – probably a decent indication of the amount of possession they enjoyed. For the Tykes fans who made the trip to Tyneside it was a disappointment. We had seen the opportunity of a victory disappear, then the chance of a bonus point swept away in the dying minutes.

 

Thing started brightly enough for the Tykes, with a penalty awarded on the Falcons’ 22 after five minutes. Stimpson was handed kicking duties in the absence of Ross and stroked it over comfortably to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

 

Falcons responded quickly, putting Tykes under sustained pressure, feeding the giant centre Epi Taione with plenty of ball to crash up the middle. The 6’ 4” 19-stoner was well marshalled by our debutant fly-half Gareth Wright and Andre Snyman. But eventually the defence cracked and a penalty was awarded to the Falcons 15 metres out. They elected to kick for the corner, and following quick ball from three or four phases, released Wallaby legend Matt Burke who flew over into the corner for the try. Burke failed with the conversion, leaving the score after 16 minutes at Falcons 5, Tykes 3.

 

Falcons continued to turn the screw, with Tykes pack finding little answer to the home-sides powerful rolling mauls. Tykes defended stoutly – as ever – but on 24 minutes David Rees was ordered to the bin for killing the ball. Again the home team opted to go for the corner, but terrific defence by Tykes saw a turnover close to our line.

 

But – and this became a worrying feature of the game – the clearance kick failed to find touch, putting Tykes under a lot of needless pressure. It was becoming clear that the Falcons could shunt us 8 or 10 metres in a maul, something we could not reciprocate. Also, while their lineouts were rock-solid, they managed to disrupt a good proportion of ours. These factors combined to give the home side a much more solid platform from which to launch their attacks, while we were pretty much living off scraps.

 

On the half hour we saw the worrying spectacle of Balshaw writhing on the ground. He limped off to be replaced by Albanese: raw pace substituted with inventiveness and unpredictability. Could Diego weave some of his magic?

With half time approaching it was clear that Tykes were getting insufficient possession to put any sort of pattern or rhythm on their play. When they did get into an attacking position, often the three-quarter line was outnumbered by the Falcons defence, leaving no way through.

 

In the closing minutes of the half, a good clearance by Stimpson gave Tykes a rare visit into Falcons’ 22. The home team were penalised for off-side, and Stimpson slotted a 30 metre kick with apparent ease. At 37 minutes Tykes, against the run of play, were 6-5 to the good.

 

The slight advantage appeared to encourage the boys, and produced our best period of play. Injury time saw Rees, back on the field, take an interception close to half way, and jink his way past two or three defenders to within 20 metres of the Falcons’ line. Wright took the ball on but was held up close to the line, but quick recycling saw the ball spread out wide at pace, and Albanese crossed for the try. Stimpson put a lovely conversion over from the touchline. The half-time whistle blew, and Tykes went into the break with a somewhat eyebrow-raising lead of 13-5.

 

Then it all began to go pear-shaped. Within seconds of the re-start disaster almost struck when Wright attempted a rather lackadaisical chip on half-way which was easily charged down and frantic, scrambled defence resulted in a scrum five metres from our line.

 

From that point on, we were under constant pressure, venturing into the Falcons’ half only on the odd occasion. Our clearance kicks were abysmal, rarely finding touch – and each time we managed to win the ball in desperate defensive situations, we’d hoof it to their wingers or full-back, who’d charge back down the field to give us another pounding up front. The pack did defend heroically, and Dickens did some excellent work at disrupting their ball at the set scrum. But 17 minutes into the second half – 17 minutes of energy-sapping defending – the lines broke and Burke crossed for his second try of the afternoon. Walder converted to make the score 13-12 to Tykes.

 

Tykes then enjoyed a short passage of play that saw the forwards giving the Falcons a rare taste of their own medicine. Our best driving maul of the day took us deep into the Falcons territory, and a subsequent infringement 20 metres out directly in front of the posts allowed Stimpson to put Tykes 4 points clear 20 minutes into the second half: Falcons 12, Tykes 16.

 

Unfortunately that score seemed only to galvanise the home team. Wave after wave of attack, with Tykes camped deep in their 22 for what seemed like hours at a time. Another score was inevitable. Again and again we failed to clear our lines. By contrast, the Falcons were directing killing chips to our corners, perfectly weighted to keep us pinned on our own line. On 65 minutes Biggs came on for Wright with Stimpson moving to fly-half. He probably wished he hadn’t. We lost any shape that we had, and Stimpson’s kicking from hand was not what we expect from a man of his reputation.

 

But it is difficult to operate under the sort of pressure Tykes were experiencing. On one occasion Stimpson was fed a pass three metres out from the line, he got caught and was driven mercilessly backwards for a 5-metre scrum.

 

The try that was inevitable came on 34 minutes, with Jamie Noone bursting through the midfield from 15 metres out to dot the ball beneath the posts. With Walder converting, the score was Falcons 19, Tykes 16.

 

Well, any chance of an unlikely victory had gone, but with the clock running down, surely we could hang on for a bonus point?

 

Sadly the Falcons were on a roll by this stage, and the constant defending had taken its toll on the Tykes. There was nothing left in the tank.

 

With two minutes on the clock Falcons were given a penalty which Walder slotted, giving the home side a 22-16 lead. The bonus point was still a possibility. Tykes desperately tried running out of defence at any opportunity, but concentration was slipping as fatigue set in and the ball kept being spilled.

 

By now the Falcons were playing with confidence and rhythm, and a final attack saw the visitors’s defence split open to allow Burke in for his hat-trick. Walder put the conversion over to make the final score Falcons 29, Tykes 16.

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