By Leipziger
August 7 2010

Our Falcons deserve their ranking as the second best side in the Premiership Sevens tournament after finishing the competition as runners-up last night, however our final conquerers Saracens proved to be on another level to everyone else.  

Having cruised through their qualifiers at the Stoop, Saracens beat Sale 24-5 in an opening match that was more one-sided than the scoreline suggests.

Second up was the crunch match in pool B, so this supporter thought: Harlequins v Newcastle. The Falcons were bolstered by Rob Vickerman and Chris Pilgrim joining fellow first-teamer Charlie Amesbury in the squad, but Jack Clifford stunned us by scoring in the first minute. Sam Smith then broke through a missed double tackle by Steve Parsons and Aaron Myers for a converted score.

At 12-0 down, the Falcons bega to fight back. A break from Pilgrim ended when he was tapped and fell behind the last defender, but Parsons got us back into the game with a converted try on half-time.

After the break, Fred Burdon set up captain Myers to score under the posts and put us in the lead. Mike Ward then went over in the corner, taking the flag with him and looking surprised that the try was given. 12-19 up from 12-0 down. You don't need me to tell you that the drama wasn't over. With a minute left the Newcastle defence fell asleep to let Charlie Walker in for a try that didn't look properly-grounded, and the scores were level.

Until Burdon scored after the hooter had gone to give us a 19-26 victory!

The third match followed a similar pattern to the second for a while, as Sale pegged Northampton back to 17-17 before Greg Barden scored in the final minute, and the Saints withstood a Shark attack to claim the 22-17 win.

At this point I should mention that before last night began I saw pool A as between Saracens and Northampton, two sides that had stormed into the finals, and pool B as between us and Harlequins, two less impressive sides that are still traditionally strong at Sevens. Sale and Exeter were surely the outsiders.

But then I thought I and the other seven Falcons I was with in the stands would be the loudest fans at the Rec. The Exeter followers took that title with ease.

Surely even a losing bonus point would see us into the final though, with Quins sure to beat Exeter?

Well the Chiefs scored almost straight from kick-off through Mike Canty, and they completely overpowered us at every breakdown before an Eoghan Grace score left us 0-10 behind.

It was at this point that Tyson Lewis came to the fore. He took the ball on the right in his own half, broke through several tackles and scored under the posts. For the rest of the night he was something of a cult figure amongst many young spectators. Lewis then set up Pilgrim who was tackled on the line, and Parsons almost scored but conceded a penalty.

And for anybody who didn't watch last night, that was just the first half.

After the break Parsons broke from our half and almost beat the last defender on 25 metres but he was tapped and couldn't stay on his feet. A second try didn't come until with a minute and three quarters left Exeter had a player sin-binned for a high tackle. Almost immediately Burdon found a gap to score on the right, but the missed conversion left the score at 10-10.

Exeter then came forward and we won a lineout. Which we lost. Thankfully we managed to put Exeter into touch and the game ended in a draw.

The result wasn't a disaster as it meant the Premiership newcomers had to beat Harlequins by eight or more points with a bonus point to deny us a place in the final.

But first, the crunch match in pool A was to take place. Saracens scored two breakaway tries either side of one from Northampton, but the second Sarries score was disallowed due to following a fight at the other end of the pitch, Don Barrell being sin-binned. The score was 7-5 to the Watford side at half-time.

Saracens scored twice more before Northampton replied, but Sarries were good value for their 17-10 victory and a place in the final, where they would face either the Premiership's most northern or most southern team.

With all nine (that I saw) Geordies in the crowd supporting them, Harlequins dominated Exeter early on and led through an unconverted try by Joe Beckett.

In the second half, Beckett and Ross Chisholm scored before Exeter claimed a consolation. The Premiership debutants' 17-5 defeat meant our Falcons would play in the final.