Three good, four bad

By Leipziger
September 7 2009

Some games leave me high, some leave me low but it's not very often I feel angry at the final whistle, and I expect I wasn't the only away fan feeling that way yesterday after the Falcons failed to convert dominance into four or even five points.  

In the end, with Leeds sniffing a win at the death on their return to the Premiership, Gcobani Bobo was forced to kick to touch and save a 9-9 draw. Not what we expected from our new squad.

Bobo, with a performance much improved on last week, was probably the best of our debutants, with James Hudson and Tom Biggs also promising, but Jimmy Gopperth's missed kicks are the headline issue as well as a first half knock-on with the line beckoning.

Not that the new Tom May was all bad, he certainly looks creative and intelligent, and together with Micky Young and Bobo got our backs going. Gopperth was first on the scoreboard with a penalty during an opening quarter in which Newcastle battered Leeds in the forwards and looked dangerous in the backs.

Biggs and Bobo combined in the 22 to set Gopperth free just to the right of the posts, but with the line at his mercy our new fly-half fumbled.

Leeds, marshalled by a combative and committed Andy Gomarsall, had a good spell in the middle of the first half and equalised with a Karen (sorry, Ceiron) Thomas penalty.

It wasn't until five minutes before half time that we managed to get a foothold in the Leeds half again, although the hosts had not made much progress beyond our 22, and with both teams missing further penalty attempts, the first half ended 3-3.

The first period had been very competitive and above all enjoyable, and there was cause to believe we'd be returning north with a win come 4.45pm.

After Gopperth missed a fourth attempt at goal, we began to put penalties into the corner instead but were unable to trouble the Leeds line.

Perhaps our best chances were a break from Young and Alex Tait actually going over (or so it looked initially) but Gopperth's long floated pass to Bobo was forward.

Our dominance was rewarded by two penalties as Gopperth rediscovered his shooting boots, but each time Leeds managed to get into our half and equalise.

The Falcons struggled to create clear chances despite being almost camped in the home half for the second 40, and as time went on and errors were made at crucial times, it came closer to the front of my mind that we might live to regret not putting Leeds away.

From our lineout in the Leeds half with 100 seconds to go, the Cardigans regained possession and kicked down into the corner. The ball stayed in play and with seconds to go Tait gathered and came infield.

In front of the posts the full-back was tackled and, to the horror of the travelling Geordies, momentarily isolated. I for one thought we might as well just kick the ball out rather than risk losing a point, and fortunately Bobo was able to do just that.

Unsurprisingly I suppose, nobody predicted a draw yesterday, but Leeds will definitely be and certainly were the happier team. We have only ourselves to blame though for not creating the required chances that our dominance of possession and territory had earned, and it would have been simply criminal had we lost at the end.

There are positives though, the scrum and maul looked good, Gopperth's passing was purposeful, Hudson was more involved than last week and Peter Browne looks to be a lively addition to our back row.

And, as I say, Bobo looked a different player to the one playing against Edinburgh. The team are still gelling and it was the first game of the season. And of course though it felt like a defeat in the aftermath, it wasn't.

On the other hand, we really need to be winning games like this and if we are sloppy against better teams they will punish us as Leeds couldn't.

Another eight months of agonising, stomach-turning tension is underway. Happy new season.