Newcastle Falcons 24 : Leicester Tigers 22


By Mally (24/03/03)
February 20 2006

Standing in the sunshine in my shirt sleeves and wearing my (literally) rose-tinted sunglasses, as the bottom of the table Falcons prepared to take on the current European Champions, could this really be Newcastle in March? I had the feeling anything could happen.

Going by comments from members of the 9,105 strong crowd the consensus was this was going to be a tight match. Leicester's away form this season has not been particularly impressive and the view was Newcastle Falcons were more than capable of winning the match. Looking down the team sheets both sides had key players out, though to be fair while Falcons had to reshuffle their back line as this season's Mr Dependable Liam Botham was ruled out with a groin injury, Leicester had to do without the likes of Tim Stimpson, Geordan Murphy and Austin Healey. However when a team has several internationals sat on the bench you know it's going to be tough, so no one in the stands was expecting this match to be easy.

However from the kick off it looked like the Newcastle Falcons had other ideas. Starting strongly, the Falcons' applied all the early pressure. A nifty pass from Epi to May saw Tom May attempt to break down the East Stand touchline before being bundled into touch. Leicester's man mountain Freddie Tuilagi looked dangerous attempting to break through the Falcons defence, it took four Falcons to bring him down. The first 10 minutes were fast and furious and Leicester's opening try scored by Steve Booth, was definitely against the initial run of play. Booth, who had originally been down to start on the Tigers' bench, took the number 15 shirt when Ireland international Geordan Murphy withdrew injured on Sunday morning. With the number 10 Craig McMullen successfully slotting the conversion the score was 7 - 0 to Leicester after 15 minutes. Almost immediately Leicester gave away a penalty allowing Jonny Wilkinson to reduce the deficit to four points. With just 20 minutes gone this was already developing in to an exciting game Newcastle looked likely to score again as Jamie Noon attacked up the West Stand touchline, unfortunately instead of coming inside, he was tackled into touch. Leicester hit back straight away, a clever kick through by Ollie Smith led to a line out, in the Falcons half. Steve Booth, looked very dangerous finding invisible gaps, and the Tigers' attack was only halted by a forward pass.

26 minutes gone and the tables turned yet again as Newcastle Falcons took the lead with a beautifully worked try. Jonny Wilkinson passed to Epi, who slipped the ball to Hugh Vyvyan. Vyvyan set up Micheal Stephenson (pictured) for a run down the East Stand touchline, Stephenson chipped over to beat the Leicester defender and score. 10 - 7 to Newcastle. Just 3 minutes later Leicester were penalised again, and Wilkinson took the 3 points, stretching the Falcons' lead to 6 points. The Mark Andrews vs Martin Johnson battle blew up and both gentlemen had a little chat with the referee, Tony Spreadbury. The penalty was awarded to Leicester Tigers, which Steve Booth slotted with a low flat kick, taking the score to 13 - 10 to Newcastle Falcons. The nearest we got to seeing a score in the last 10 minutes of the half was when Jonny Wilkinson, who was by his standards having a fairly average game, went for a drop goal attempt, which sailed wide of the posts. The half time score of 13 - 10 to Newcastle Falcons was probably a fair reflection of what had been a hard fought first half. This was a very physical game - Epi doing his usual trick of running over rather than round the opposition, fists flying in a scrum and Mark Andrews firmly demonstrating that even at only 40% fit (as he described himself after the match!) he is more than a match for Martin Johnson.

Newcastle Falcons stretched their lead to 21-10 in first 15 minutes of the second half with a Jonny Wilkinson penalty followed by an excellent try from Jamie Noon. Noon kicked the ball past the Leicester defence, chased it up, hacked it on, and won the race to the ball to ground it for Newcastle's second try of the match. Uncharacteristically Wilkinson missed the conversion. At this point the Falcons luck started to change. Mark Andrews was sin-binned for what he described as a "misunderstanding" between himself and Tony Spreadbury. Andrews, who had not been sin-binned for 2 years, claimed he was trying to "pop the ball" out of the Leicester defender's hands, unfortunately Mr Spreadbury did not see it like that and sent Andrews off for a shoulder charge. Rob Andrew described Mark Andrews presence as "significant in more ways than one" and with out the influential South African the Falcons were put under pressure. With the Falcons pack now seriously depleted (Joe Shaw was now filling in the back row!), Leicester decided to bring on some fresh legs in replacing Perry Freshwater and Martin Corry with Graham Rowntree and Neil Back. As the packs scrummed down just short of the Leicester try line a fight broke out, and Andy Mower was sent off. Whether Mower was to blame or not, is still unclear even after seeing a televised replay of the event. If it was a fight then surely one player form each team should have been sent off? Considering they were down by 2 forwards Newcastle Falcons held out fairly well, conceding just one try whilst down to 13 men. From running the ball in the first half Leicester reverted to type and mauled their way over the tryline, with Dorian West being the player given the score. Luckily for Newcastle, Leicester missed the conversion making the score 21 - 15. Just after Mark Andrews came back on, Falcons were awarded another penalty, Wilkinson slotted the the posts, 24 - 15 to Newcastle. The 14 man Newcastle side looked like they just might hang on. With less than 15 minutes of regular time remaining Dean Richards bought on more replacements, Ben Kay replacing Louis Deacon, and Jamie Hamilton taking over from Tom Tierney. The introduction of more fresh players paid off as a second drive saw Leicester over the line, and again Dorian West was the scorer. This time Leicester slotted the conversion, there were now just two points separarting the two sides. 24 - 22 to Newcastle Falcons. Andy Mower came back on as the game went into injury time, and Newcastle fought hard keeping Leicester back in their own half, Newcastle were awarded a penalty and on instruction from the bench Jonny Wilkinson booted the ball into touch. Final score Newcastle Falcons 24 - Leicester Tigers 22.

This was a very physical and very exciting match with a result it seemed the players themselves found hard to believe. Jonny Wilkinson described himself as being "very pleased, very tired but very pleased", Ian Peel (pictured) summed it up "awesome", and Jamie Noon remarked that it was nice to beat Leicester, "the old enemy". The Falcons did not let themsleves be intimidated by Leicester, as Rob Andrew commented after the match: "You can't afford to let Leicester's intimidatory tactics get the better of you. If you do, then they'll walk all over you. Our boys stood up to them. We gave as good as we got. That's a sign we've grown up in the last six weeks." Newcastle Falcons looked nothing like the side which even according to our own Director of Rugby, Rob Andrews were "a shambles" before Christmas and if they continue to play like this then there is no way that Falcons will be relegated. Mark Andrews put the improvement in the side down to the more settled look to the team, saying it was down to "playing rugby and adjusting to each other, it's easier to play with the same hooker and same props." For the first time in a long while the Newcastle Falcons team which finished the match was the same as the one which started it, though Rob Andrew joked that he didn't need to bring any replacements on as a couple of the lads had a "rest" in the second half! Speaking after the match Rob Andrew paid tribute to the fans and thanking them for their support, describing the day's record crowd as "oustanding". He continued with this message for the fans. "There were 9000 here today, great support for the team, please keep coming back as it makes such a difference to the players when you see the place full like it was today." "We're on the mend but we've got a long way to go. We've just got to keep building on it. I always believed we could get 9 or 10,000 here if we provided the facility and get the team winning and that will continue. But thanks everybody - it makes such a difference." Newcastle Falcons: 15 Joe Shaw, 14 Tom May, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Mark Mayerhofler, 11 Michael Stephenson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 James Grindal, 1 Ian Peel, 2 Nick Makin, 3 Marius Hurter, 4 Mark Andrews (sin-bin, 62-72), 5 Stuart Grimes, 6 Epi Taione, 7 Andy Mower (sin-bin, 69-79), 8 Hugh Vyvyan. Leicester Tigers: 15 Steve Booth, 14 Leon Lloyd (replaced by Glen Gelderbloom, 43 mins), 13 Ollie Smith (replaced by Sam Vesty, 54 mins), 12 Rod Kafer, 11 Freddie Tuilagi, 10 Craig McMullen, 9 Tom Tierney (replaced by Jamie Hamilton, 77 mins), 1 Perry Freshwater (replaced by Graham Rowntree, 63 mins), 2 Dorian West, 3 Frank Tournaire (replaced by Darren Garforth, 31 mins), 4 Martin Johnson, 5 Louis Deacon (replaced by Ben Kay, 77 mins), 6 Martin Corry (replaced by Neil Back, 63 mins), 7 Josh Kronfeld, 8 Adam Balding. Scorers: Newcastle Falcons Tries: Stephenson (23min), Noon (58). Conversion: Wilkinson. Penalty goals: Wilkinson 3 (18, 27, 75). Dropped goal: Wilkinson (46). Leicester Tigers: Tries: Booth (16), West 2 (71, 80). Conversions: McMullen, Booth. Penalty goal: Booth (31). Scoring Sequence (Newcastle Falcons first): 0-7, 3-7, 10-7, 13-7, 13-10 (half-time), 16-10, 21-10, 21-15, 24-15, 24-22.
  • Match Preview: Tigers Stalk the Falcons' Nest