Falcons hold on as it goes to the wire
NEWCASTLE’S second biggest crowd of the season were handed an early Christmas present when the Falcons hung on for a one-point win over Harlequins.
“Nobody was going home early,” said Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards after Harlequins almost clawed their way back from being 11-0 down at half time to be just one point adrift and come close to snatching victory in a frantic second half.
Vereniki Goneva’s 16th minute try and two Sonatane Takulua penalties gave Falcons an 11-0 half time lead but it never looked quite enough in the swirling wind which favoured Quins after the break.
And when Quins hit back through a 44th minute Mike Brown try with Marcus Smith converting and adding a penalty in the 67th minute, the lead was a slender 11-10 to set up a pulsating finish.
Richards added: “We could and should have scored more in the first half but conditions weren’t easy out there and we had to battle to hang on when they came back at us after Mike Brown scored that try.”
Somehow, Newcastle did hang on to send their fans home for Christmas in a happy mood but Falcons should have had the points sewn up by half-time.
They dominated the opening 20 minutes with their spine of 8-9-10 in control which led to Sinoti Sinoti and Goneva shredding the Quins defence.
Juan Pablo Socino’s coruscating break and back-handed offload to Will Witty could have led to a try, but the TMO judged the big lock had been held just short. However, there was a penalty for offside and Sonatane Takulua took the points.
A try looked inevitable and it came in the 16th minute with Toby Flood finding Sinoti coming off his wing on the loop. He broke the Quins line and floated a pass out to Goneva who shot over.
Takulua missed the conversion but kicked a 25th minute penalty after Gary Graham was hauled down just short after another barrelling run and Quins strayed offside.
The one real chance to come Quins way saw Brown go past Goneva but the Falcons winger got back to nail Tim Visser near the corner flag and Chris Harris intercepted his inside pass before ending up in touch and Newcastle completed their escape when Quins knocked on at the line-out.
Within four minutes of the restart a determined Quins response saw James Chisholm and Alofa Alofa smash through and the ball was swiftly moved out to Brown for a simple try converted by Smith for 11-7.
It was all Quins as it had been all Newcastle in the first half and the Falcons simply could not get their hands on the ball. When they did they turned it over far too often, but then so did Quins as the half wore on.
There were turnovers galore from both sides and Smith kicked a 67th minute penalty for 11-10 to ratchet up the pressure in an increasingly niggly match.
Somehow, Newcastle kept out a wave of attacks as Quins strove desperately for the final breakthrough but it never came as the Falcons defence held firm.