By Mally (05/01/03)
January 5 2003

In front of a sell out crowd at Sale, Newcastle Falcons desperately tried to revive their Premiership fortunes. It was not to be. Going down 38–3 to Sharks, it would be easy to dismiss the match as a rout. Obviously this wasn’t a great performance by the Falcons, but it did have some good points. Falcons started the game well having much of the early possession. In the opening few minutes the Falcons definitely looked the more dangerous of the two teams, building pressure and certainly not out-classed. There was a brilliant early break from Jamie Noon, which unfortunately came to nothing as Jon Dunbar failed take Noon's pass.

The Sharks' threat came from their quick breaks, which tested the Falcons defence. Liam Botham, wearing 14 but apparently playing in the fullback role, and Jamie Noon did well to cover an early Sharks' break. The resulting line out went long and in the scramble for the ball James Christian received a bang on the neck. Christian was stretchered off and taken to hospital for an X-ray, and Nick Makin came on as the replacement hooker.

Charlie Hodgeson slotted the ensuing penalty, putting the first points on the board. 3 – 0 to Sharks.

Newcastle had the chance to equal the score shortly afterwards, but Liam Botham's 50m goal kick went narrowly wide.

Falcons applied more pressure after an excellent kick to the corner from Mark Wilkinson. From the line out Falcons drove for the line, gaining another penalty, but couldn't quite make it over the try line, and Sale cleared the ball.

Even as Charlie Hodgeson slotted his second penalty of the evening, giving Sale a 6 point lead, it still looked like Falcons could win this game. This seemed even more likely when Botham's second penalty attempt went in off the post. At 6 – 3 Falcons were definitely in the game, Sharks were awarded a penalty for a Falcons' offside and the usually reliable Hodgeson missed. 6 – 3 to Sharks.

And then everything went wrong.

Andy Mower who had been having a good game, doing all the sneaky things a good number seven should do, was sin binned for pulling down the maul. Sharks put the ball into the corner then brought it back across for Dan Harris to go over under the posts.

Well he went over, but he did not ground the ball. I was stood right in front of him, and the ball definitely never hit the ground. One of the Falcons' players (Craig Newby??) managed to roll him over just in time. Unfortunately, neither the referee, Robin Goodliffe, nor the touch judges were in a position to see this. However none of the people, including some Sale fans and a couple of neutral supporters, in the East Stand near were I was stood thought the ball was grounded. 11 – 3 to Sharks.

Adding insult to injury Charlie Hodgeson converted the penalty taking the score to 13 – 3.

Falcons seemed a little stunned by the decision, and Sale quickly took advantage, making a quick break, which Stephenson covered. Then they switched sides, passing the ball out quickly and Mark Cueto scored Sharks second try in 2 minutes in the dark far corner. Hodgeson converted.

Sharks 18 - Falcons 3.

Falcons did not have luck on their side, winning the ball from a lineout it was knocked forwards in the tackle. Then Micky Ward was penalised for being offside and Hodgeson took the 3 points.

Half time: Sale Sharks 21 – Newcastle Falcons 3

The second half saw Andy Mower return to the pitch and Jason Robinson showed exactly why the England number 15 shirt belongs to him. Robinson had had a fairly quiet first half, however the second was completely different.

A Falcons' kick went straight into Jason Robinson’s arms, and off he goes, making 20 metres and slicing through the Falcons' defence. While Sharks failed to score from this break, they did not fail to do so from Charlie Hodgeson's just a minute later. Hodgeson passed to Cueto who went over for his second try of the match. 26 – 3 to Sharks, as a small consolation Hodgeson missed the conversion.

Sale spread the ball out wide and were consistently threatening the Falcons' line, in comparison at this point Falcons did not look like scoring, they were going sideways.

This is not to say the team weren't trying. They were. Constantly pressurising Sharks but lacking the ability to break through the final few metres. Frustrating for them and for us.

Substitutions were made, Grimes & May went off, Shaw & Hamilton came on. The substitutions seemed to give the Falcons a bit of a lift. As they scrummed down, the ball came out to the backs and Botham was tackled about 1 metre short of the line. The Sharks defence held up and they cleared the ball.

60 metres from the Sale try line the ball ended up in Jason Robinson's hands. Sidestepping Botham and Stephenson, leaving them for dead and sprinting round Jamie Noon, Billy Whizz scored what was possibly one of the tries of the season.

Hodgeson missed the conversion but by this point it really didn’t matter. Sale 31 - Falcons 3.

With 15 minutes to go the Sharks made a batch of substitutions, and on 70 minutes Rob Andrew replaced Jon Dunbar with Epi Taione. Much has been said about where and how Epi should be played, on Friday night he proved what a dangerous player he can be. With Epi's arrival on the pitch Falcons seemed to pick up again. Jamie Noon could have been in in the corner but for the pass went slightly behind him. Epi kept charging up the pitch every time he got the ball, persistently attacking the Sale line.

After more pressure Falcons ended up yet again just metres from the try line. At the scrum the ball came out to the backs, from where we were stood it looked like Joe Shaw would have an easy scamper over the line but instead he came back inside. Falcons kept looking for the gap, but to no avail, a pass out wide was intercepted. A grateful Steve Hanley ran the length of the pitch to score Sale's fifth try.

Hodgeson's conversion took the final score to 38 – 3.

The conclusion

The forwards had a decent game, certainly not out classed by the Sharks pack, and at times the Falcons' forwards looked dangerous. The backs however struggled. It would be unfair to say they did not put in the effort as they did, however finding the try line does seem to be a problem. Newcastle controlled much of the game and had a great deal of possession, but somehow they could not make those last few metres. Hopefully this is something the coaching team can work on, if not then we are in serious trouble.

One positive is that thanks to Leeds Tykes beating Bath 20 – 7, we’re no worse off than we were last week. We're still 6 points adrift and need to win at least 4 of our remaining games to stand a chance of Premiership survival.

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Match Preview - Sharks v Falcons

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