By Falcons Admin
March 6 2021

Newcastle Falcons left the AJ Bell Stadium empty-handed on Friday night as Sale Sharks claimed the spoils in the Gallagher Premiership’s northern ‘derby’.

 

Leading 18-6 at half-time and holding firm during the second period, the Sharks made the most of Newcastle’s failure to capitalise on a series of close-range line-outs.

The visitors gave themselves work to do almost right from the off, losing their first lineout and conceding a try within two minutes when the TMO judged Marland Yarde to have stayed in-field at the left corner.

AJ MacGinty added an impressive touchline conversion, Newcastle growing into the game and earning some field position through the boot of Louis Schreuder.

But they were two tries down inside 15 minutes when the TMO again ruled in the Sharks’ favour, Lood de Jager collecting an impressive inside offload to score an unconverted try in the right corner.

The Falcons managed to get their hands on the ball and earned at least some reward for their efforts on the half-hour mark – a flowing period of phase play seeing Brett Connon slotting a penalty from the left as the hosts infringed at ruck time.

MacGinty nudged the hosts’ lead back to 12 with a straightforward penalty from in front, Connon replying in kind with a similarly simple effort only for MacGinty to repeat the trick on 39 minutes for an 18-6 half-time lead.

Full Report at the Offy Here