By Leipziger
August 30 2006

The Falcons rounded off their pre-season by gaining revenge over Glasgow after last week’s defeat. Tries from Anthony Elliott, Phil Dowson and the outstanding Joe Shaw settled the match in front of almost 2,900 fans at Kingston Park.

If Shaw’s flair was a dominant feature, Toby Flood’s kicking was also strong and it was from an up-and-under towards the Glasgow 22 that Francisco Leonelli dropped the ball, Newcastle regaining possession and feeding Jamie Noon on the left.  Noon went for a gap, but then passed to Elliott who pushed over in the corner.  Jonny Wilkinson converted for a 7-0 lead.

 

Shaw and Elliott combined for another attack down the left, the former setting off on a great crossfield run before passing to the latter who was tackled and Glasgow won the penalty.  Elliott made another good run down the middle but the chance went begging through a lack of support.

The Falcons forwards began to turn the screw on Glasgow, with Andy Perry having a good game.  As Glasgow continued to offend, prop Justin Va’a was sin-binned and Shaw had a good chance but was taken into touch.

 

The second try came from runs by Matthew Burke and man of the match Toby Flood, who combined for Wilkinson to set up Shaw on the right.  He cut through a gap in the defence to score.  Perry was then sent off for 10 minutes and Dan Parks kicked a penalty right on half time, with the Falcons going in 12-3 ahead.

 

Brent Wilson and John Rudd were brought on for their home debuts, whilst James Grindal, Matt Thompson and Robbie Morris were also introduced.  The second half saw a more even game with both sides having chances.  A chip from Flood towards the line almost set up Rudd but Glasgow were able to clear, and the former Northampton man then dropped the ball after a scrum, the latest in a long line of handling errors from both sides on a greasy evening.

 

Probably the more dominant team, Glasgow scored a superb try through Mike Roberts.  From a run down the right, Parks thundered a kick to the left wing and Roberts outpaced Joe Shaw and kept the ball alive to score.

 

Newcastle then camped on the Glasgow line for the remainder of the game, the home forwards scrimmaging well with Jon Golding, Jason Oakes and Ben Woods all brought on.  The Falcons made the win safe just before the end when Dowson went over on the right, Flood’s conversion wrapping up a 19-8 win.

 

A game of two halves...

 

To summarise – the Falcons were quite good in the first half, not so good in the second half, and as Director of Rugby John Fletcher says, there are still areas to work on, such as the speed and numbers getting to the breakdown, and again the lineout.

Vital

However, the backs generally looked fast and intelligent, and the scrum was strong.  Jonny Wilkinson (who combined very well with Toby Flood), Joe Shaw and Phil Dowson are fit and playing well, and all three will be vital to the Falcons this season.