The best is yet to come from Falcons – Richards
BOSS PRAISES OUTSTANDING DEFENCE
THERE is more to come from Newcastle, according to their director of rugby Dean Richards, after they snatched a 24-22 victory at the death against Northampton.
Nili Latu went over from the final play, with Tane Takulua slotting the crucial conversion to end a run of four straight defeats for the Falcons.
Sinoti Sinoti and Josh Matavesi had earlier got tries for Newcastle, with Richards praising his side’s stubborn defence.
“Our defence was outstanding,” he said. “Against better sides we might have been found out a little bit but we dug in and came back. I loved that aspect of it.
“Both sides made mistakes on the night but we found a way to win it. When you’re camped on their line you want guys like Nili there, and he brought it home.
“The beauty is there’s so much more to come, we look forward to seeing that over the coming months.
“To still win in those circumstances was quite nice because we know there’s a lot more to come, and we put out a hell of a back line tonight.
“If we can get a little bit more out of IT was second against third in East League 1 when North Berwick visited Scremerston to take on Berwick.
And it was the East Lothian side who left with a win under their belts to keep them in touch with league leaders Hawick Harlequins.
Berwick, meanwhile, dropped back to fourth in the table as a result that back division, there’ll be some good results coming.”
Harry Mallinder had opened the scoring, with Dylan Hartley’s try and five points from the boot of Piers Francis putting them 19-17 up with 10 minutes to play.
But the Saints defence was breached to consign them to their fifth straight Premiership defeat and director of rugby Jim Mallinder rued his side’s lack of clinical edge.
“We dominated in the second half, creating pressure, playing pretty well, and we just couldn’t score. Then to concede in that final minute was really heartbreaking,” he said.
“We had a chance to win at Sale the week before, but we couldn’t score and lost the game. We’ve lost late on again today and it’s really hard to take.
“We’re not playing anywhere near as well as we have in the past and some of our basics are not right, but we’re also not getting the bounce of the ball and all that puts us in the position we are.” of their fourth defeat of the season.
Shane Armstrong kicked a penalty to put the Blacks 8-0 in front, but North Berwick hit back with a penalty of their own before adding a converted try to go 8-10 up.
Hindhaugh kicked a penalty early in the second half to put Berwick 11-10 in front.
North Berwick managed to keep it tight throughout, and with only five minutes remaining, they struck the killer blow. BLAYDON left it more than just a ‘bit late’ to secure their five-point win, with winger James Cooney touching down with the final play of the game.
Behind by three points going into the last ten minutes they attacked incessantly, but until a last-minute penalty was kicked to the corner the opportunity to end a losing run looked over,
Leading 24-12 at one stage, Blaydon had been in the ascendancy only to concede a try to Broadley in the last play of the first half.
And then things went from bad to worse when lapses in concentration Sheffield – meaning the lead had become 24-34 deficit.
But Blaydon responded well and went on to dominate the final quarter. When scrum-half Andrew Miller quickly secured possession to burst into the 22, Rob Lenderyou finished off and Ryan Foreman landed the conversion.
The late line-out ball was moved cross-field by Thompson, Foreman and Dan Marshall to send in Cooney for a 6th and winning try but it had been a mighty close thing.