By Veston Pants
March 13 2007

He's been at it again. Veston Pants has written another preview, this time for the forthcoming Falcons game at Sixways, Friday 16th March (20h00 kick off). Click here to enter "The World of Veston Pants"

Cup Final # 3

Well what a difference a week can make. Prior to the Bath game most of us had written off our chances of premiership survival. Then a flicker of hope. But surely that’s all it was – wasn’t it? A win against an out of form side who couldn’t win away from home. Must have been a fluke. Hold on though….news just in from the northern correspondents…what’s that they say….a win against the defending champions...two great tries and a great display of gutsy defensive work. Perhaps it really is happening. Two cup finals won and four more to go.

The first of these remaining cup finals takes place at Sixways on Friday evening when the Warriors host our most distant of rivals – in more than one sense – in Newcastle Falcons. And this one is just as important as the previous two. With Northampton Saints hosting the struggling Sharks at the Gardens anything less than a win could leave us five or even six points behind after the weekend.

So what of our prospects for Friday? Well on paper the Worcester forwards should have the edge and the Falcons should shade the back play. The thing is, the game’s not going to be played on paper but on the lustrous Sixways turf. The Falcons are almost clear of relegation danger and one more win should see them safe.  There can be no doubt that Falcons’ Director of Rugby John Fletcher will have targeted this game as a genuine opportunity to secure his club’s top flight tenure and there is enough evidence from the season so far to suggest the Newcastle pack will be no walk over for Worcester.  Conversely, the Warriors last three games have heralded a new lease of life for their much maligned backs who have contributed four impressive tries in the recent revival including Lee Best’s Rugby Club ‘Try of the Month’ winner.

This weekend is Six Nations time again and Newcastle look set to lose the impressive Toby Flood and Matthew Tait to England duty.  At the time of writing Jonny Wilkinson appears to have been ruled out of England contention by injury which presumably means he will also be missing from the Falcons squad.  The injury woes of ‘Sir Jonny’ need no repeating here but they do seem to have instilled a certain resourcefulness among Newcastle’s coaching staff who have brought a number of promising young players into the first team ranks.  For example, none of us who made the trip up to Kingston Park back in September need any reminding of what Tim Visser is capable of.  Newcastle also have no shortage of experience to draw upon either with players of the calibre of Jamie Noon, former All Black Mark Mayerhofler and Aussie legend Matt Burke.

The result of this game is far too close for me to call.  Newcastle’s away form has been patchy and, save for the Bath game, the Warriors home form needs little introduction. One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be another nail-biter but then that’s what Cup Finals should be like.