By Leipziger
February 1 2014

Newcastle Falcons gave the Kingston Park faithful something to shout about for the first time in a while last night with a bonus-point, clean-sheet victory over Newport Gwent Dragons to end the LV= Cup pool campaign on a high.

Following several weeks in which an unhappiness and, at times, indifference has come over some sections of the supporter base, the Falcons turned in one of their best performances of the season to send the Welsh side packing without so much as a point to their name.

After giving debuts to several academy prospects at Saracens last week, Dean Richards brought back the senior men with an eye on the upcoming return to Premiership action. Mark Wilson made his 100^th Falcons appearance in the back row with Will Welch and Andy Saull, while Sinoti Sinoti played his second game in a Newcastle shirt and Argentine international Gonzalo Tiesi made a debut at centre. Matt Thompson and Dom Barrow made long-awaited returns from injury.

The Falcons tore into the Dragons from the off and after just a few minutes a lineout was fed straight to the backs, Phil Godman showing a good turn of pace to break through the away defence and touch down for the opening score in the middle, the fly-half easily converting.

Sinoti, who looked hungry on the wing all night, set up the second try down the left, breaking and then giving the scoring pass to Wilson in the corner. After months of giving possession away at every opportunity, the Falcons were playing with the ball in hand and contributing to a more positive atmosphere in KP.

The Dragons had no answer to the hosts’ running game in the first half and rarely made it out of their own half, never mind into the Falcons 22. Godman was enjoying one of his best games of the season and linking up well with Adam Powell, who made plenty of metres through the middle. Barrow was also putting himself about and taking no time to ease himself back into action.

Wilson got his second try when the forwards ran through the phases and dragged the Newport defence inside, allowing the Cumbrian to take a pass on the right and have a clear run to the line. Godman knocked over the extra two points, and then added a penalty before the end of the first half, giving the Falcons a 22-0 lead at the break.

At half-time the home fans were expecting a try bonus point, but the Welshmen finally got into the game and pegged the Falcons back for the early part of the second period. After a string of penalties, Thompson was shown a yellow card, but with the visitors having no interest in kicking three points, the Falcons defended well and kept their clean sheet intact.

The Dragons were themselves reduced to fourteen men for the rest of the match with replacement Nic Cudd given a red card for dropping Powell onto his head in a tackle. Just minutes later, a hit in the air at a lineout saw the Falcons fans baying for blood but the referee decided that a talking to for away captain Rob Sidoli was enough.

The game began to become a little ill-tempered as the Falcons began to regain control. Sinoti got into some handbags off the pitch in one such case. With the replacements on, Rory Clegg sent some aimless kicks into the Newport 22 that prompted derision from the crowd, but the fourth try finally came in the final minutes when Fraser McKenzie fought his way over on the left, managing to stay on his feet after taking a pass and stumbling.

Clegg added the conversion to make the final score 29-0 and give Newcastle a vital morale-boosting victory ahead of two hard away trips to Bath and Harlequins.