By Whaley Shark
April 24 2010

Gopperth, Gopperth- that’s an odd word. Why is it floating round inside my brain at 5 a.m.? Then it all comes flooding back- because he’s the guy whose laser-guided kicking, orchestration of the Falcons backline and squirming, wriggling dart for a try sank us last night, that’s why!

Given the pressure on the players, I thought we started OK, a bit nervous but we tried a few things. Charlie missed a penalty very early on, but some ill-discipline gave Jimmy Gopperth two penalty shots, which he took. Lee Thomas missed a long range effort and then, at the end of the first quarter, we tried to be a bit too clever with our handling and knocked on. From the scrum on our 10 m line, Falcons exerted sustained pressure in our 22 and good old Jimmy wriggled through a gap to touch down. Inevitably, he converted his own try and, 13-0 down at the end of the first quarter, this “must win” game looked to be slipping rapidly from our grasp.

The next stage of the game was very even, with neither side really gaining ascendancy. Charlie kicked a penalty to get us off the mark but the stalemate was broken when Mark Cueto fielded a high kick and ran back at the Falcons. He was stopped by a desperate tap-tackle, but we kept going forward and, several phases later, ran the ball out to Vakacegu on the left, who crossed in the corner. Charlie converted to bring us right back into the game. We conceded a soft penalty for offside shortly after the restart and, a few minutes later, another one when Mark Cueto tried to run from his own half and got isolated. Needless to say, Jimmy got both. The half ended with our forwards battering their way towards the Newcastle line, but then knocking on, and we went in 19-10 down.

I have no idea what was said at half time, but it had an effect. Although You Know Who slotted another penalty for Newcastle, the third quarter of the match belonged to us. Ben Cohen took a high kick, Dean Schofield battered down field, and Falcons were penalised just inside their half. Charlie got that one, and then two more in quick succession, one where Falcons stopped a bulldozer of a roiling maul and then one after Kristian Ormsby took a restart and Wiggy, Lee Thomas and Sisa ran the ball straight back into the Falcons’ 22. Finally, after a long period of unproductive pressure, Charlie slotted a drop goal on the hour to tie the scores. With twenty minutes still to go, and all the momentum with us, this looked like our game to win.

Finally, after being on the ropes for 20 minutes, Falcons recovered. We cleared a restart to touch on the Falcons’ 10 m line, they built a good attacking position, then slid a delightful grubber into touch, just short of the corner flag. We won the lineout, then screwed up and the Falcons’ scrum half, Micky Young, touched down. Jimmy, inevitably, did his thing. Charlie responded with another penalty a couple of minutes later, then Newcastle were done for “not straight” at a lineout, giving us a scrum on their 10 m line. A mix of the Sisa battering ram and some brisk passing sent Wiggy over under a heap of bodies, but the ball wasn’t grounded. However, in a classic piece of loose forward play, Kristian Ormsby peeled off the 5 m scrum to score. Charlie missed the conversion but, at 30-29, we were in the lead for the first time in the match.

As the game moved into the last few minutes, we missed a touch kick and Falcons ran it back. Eventually, scrabbling for the ball, we conceded a penalty, and we all know that Jimmy doesn’t miss. That put Falcons’ noses (beaks?) ahead and our final chance to steal the game came right at the death when we won a lineout on the Newcastle 10 m line and the forwards battered downfield to get Charlie into drop goal range. With the clock showing time up, he screwed the kick wide and that was that. I do hope Charlie doesn’t beat himself up too much over the drop goal. That no more lost the game for us than the indiscipline which Jimmy Gopperth exploited, or the stupid foul-up which led to Falcons’ second try.

And so to the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (I watched it again in the week)

Good. Ormsby- my man of the match, excellent fielding of restarts, aggression in attack and defence, and a classic Number 8’s try. Honourable mentions for Ben Cohen, solid under the high ball and Neil Briggs for the usual all-action performance. Also good, the atmosphere, the noise and the whole experience- best we’ve had for a long time.

Bad. We lost. If it wasn’t a game which mattered so much, I’d be writing about a tense, hard-fought match which the best side narrowly won. As it is, we have to rely on our Yorkshire neighbours to kill off Worcester’s fight for survival.

Ugly. the state of my nerves for the next 24 hours. COME ON LEEDS!!!

Finally, a big thank you to the departing Deano and Wiggy, and best wishes for the future.