That the Falcons won was due to their dogged defence and the failure of Sale to capitalise on possession. And, thanks to aggressive play by Sale and inept officiating by Mr Spreadbury and colleagues, the Falcons were left with a number of injury worries.

Sale Sharks arrived seeking their elusive first win in the Premiership at Kingston Park, but with a deserved reputation for attacking rugby. They have scored more tries than any other Premiership team in the past two seasons and in Steve Hanley possess the individual who has scored more tries than any other in the Premiership, having got his 51st in the draw against Northampton Saints. Along with many others, I fully expected a high scoring, entertaining game. In the event, neither side delivered the goods. Few fans from either camp – unless they enjoyed the pre-match entertainer, a Michael Jackson look-alike – will have reason to savour the afternoon as a spectacle.

The early stages of the game were dominated by the Falcons, but there was little evidence that possession would be turned into scores, with the backs easily covered by the Sale defensive line. The first points did, however, come to the Falcons when Walder kicked a penalty goal after 13 minutes, having earlier missed an attempt from the half-way line by the narrowest of margins. The Falcons score was almost immediately countered by a penalty goal from a difficult angle by Sale’s Jos Baxendell, after Mark Andrews was penalised for not releasing the ball.

There was little for either team’s supporters to shout about in the first half and the only other score of the half came from another penalty goal, this time kicked by Ben Gollings, taking over the kicking duties whilst Walder was having treatment to his right leg. Some good work by the Falcons forwards and backs provided a rare opportunity for a try, out wide, which was thwarted when Hoyle killed the ball. The Sale player was sent to the sin bin and Gollings stepped up to give the Falcons a 6-3 lead at the interval.

Perhaps the most crucial moments of the first half were the failure of Jos Baxendell to capitalise on two penalty kick opportunities: whilst one was from a similar, difficult position to his first successful kick, the second was one from straight in front of the posts and a distance of 40 metres out. This latter failure to bag three points may have influenced the decisive moment of the game late in the second half. The Falcons began the second half without Mark Andrews, who had sustained a bang to the head, and soon after lost Dave Walder. The Falcons stand-off had been targeted all afternoon with late tackles from Sale players. There had also been a number of incidents in which a flurry of punches in the rucks and mauls by Sale players, in the direct line of vision of the touch line officials, if not the referee, went unpunished. The failure of the officials to take action ensured that the accolade for the worst performance of the afternoon went not to Baxendell, and not to the Michael Jackson look-alike, but to the three gentlemen dressed in luminous stripes.

Without Andrews, and Garath Archer who had withdrawn before the game started with a back problem, the Falcons line out collapsed losing six out of nine throw-ins in the second half. As a consequence Sale were able to dominate possession and territory for the remainder of the game. A try duly followed after Sale made ground, committed the Falcons to the break down and fed the ball out to Vaughan Going for an easy run-in. However, the conversion was missed and the Falcons were only trailing by two points. On 48 minutes Gollings, having had an earlier kick rebound from the upright, stepped up to kick another penalty from 40 metres out and restore the lead to the Falcons by a single point. Sale dominated the rest of the game, but the Falcons defence proved, yet again, resolute. Time after time tackles from Hall Charlton, Michael Stephenson, Tom May, Jamie Noon and Hugh Vyvyan repulsed the Sale attacking line. Despite having a back line brimming with speed and talent, Sale could not capitalise on their possession. In fact, Sale only looked like adding points to the board on two occasions and failed both times. Firstly, Cueto stepped into touch just before touching down and then Baxendell missed another penalty goal attempt from in front of the posts 35 metres out. It was proving to be one of those days for the Sale players and supporters. Then came the decisive moment of the whole game. With a penalty awarded against the Falcons right in front of the posts, Sale opted to run the ball instead what seemed to be, despite Baxendell’s performance, a clear-cut opportunity to take three points and with it the game. The tap-penalty by replacement hooker Matt Cairns was fed out to Cueto who knocked-on with the try line in sight, and the Falcons lived to breathe again.

The clock ticked down and the Falcons had secured five points from two games.

As Rob Andrew admitted after the game "It wasn't pretty and we were pretty average technically. But we toughed it out - which is something we haven't always done in the last couple of seasons".

From a Falcons perspective, the victory was welcome, as was the performance of recent recruit Ben Gollings and a number of young players who are demonstrating that they have what it takes to succeed in the Premiership. However, there must be concerns at the growing number of players sidelined with injuries. The Falcons started the day with Garath Archer withdrawing due to a back problem and finished the game with injuries to three players, Mark Andrews, Epi Taione – carried off on a stretcher in the second half with ankle ligament injuries– and, of most concern, Dave Walder.

Despite Michael Jackson’s presence, this was not a thriller to watch, but the fact is that Falcons came out of it with a hard-fought victory and Sale Sharks swam away, having yet again failed to taste victory on a visit to Kingston Park.

The scorers

Newcastle Falcons

Pen: Walder, Gollings (2)

Sale Sharks

Tries: Going
Pen: Baxendell

Teams

Newcastle Falcons

1. Ian Peel, 2. Nick Makin, 3. Marius Hurter, 4. Craig Hamilton, 5. Mark Andrews (Capt), 6. Epi Taione, 7. Warren Britz, 8. Hugh Vyvyan, 9. Hall Charlton, 10. Dave Walder, 11. Tom May, 12. Mark Mayerhofler, 13. Jamie Noon, 14. Michael Stephenson, 15. Ben Gollings.

Replacements

16. Micky Ward, 17. Will Kay, 18. Jon Dunbar, 19. Phil Dowson, 20. James Grindal, 21. Phil Godman, 22. Alex Cadwallader.

Sale Sharks

1. Andrew Sheridan, 2. Andy Titterrell, 3. Barry Stewart, 4. Dean Schofield, 5. Chris Jones, 6. Alex Sanderson (Capt.), 7. Phil Davies, 8. Stuart Pinkerton, 9. Bryan Redpath, 10. Jos Baxendell, 11. Steve Hanley, 12. Matt Cairns, 13. Graeme Bond, 14. Mark Cueto, 15. Vaughan Going.

Replacements

16. ??, 17. Kevin Yates, 18. Stuart Turner, 19. Iain Fullarton, 20. Jason White, 21. James Hoyle, 22. Richard Wrigglesworth.

Referee: Tony Spreadbury
Attendance: 5,628

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