Falcons frustrate, and leave Richards fuming
A FRUSTRATED Dean Richards called Newcastle Falcons’ 30-13 defeat to Leicester Tigers “a kick up the bum”.
The Falcons were ruthlessly picked off by the visitors in front of their first sell-out crowd since May 2009.
Tries from Telusa Veainu, Ben Youngs and Jonny May were backed up by 15 points from the superb George Ford, while Newcastle struggled in attack.
Vereniki Goneva got the only try for the hosts, while a seemingly unfit Toby Flood added eight points with the boot.
Leicester’s forwards caused the hosts a stack of problems, while the pace of the Veainu was a major thorn in the Falcons’ side. But Tigers legend and Falcons director of rugby Richards was more frustrated by his own side’s lack of execution.
When asked if the defeat showed there is still work to be done at Kingston Park, he replied: “For me, it’s a kick up the bum.”
He added: “We were very inaccurate on the day and we were quite illdisciplined at times, we gave too many penalties away.
“That was probably forced on us by the way we were defending and doing our own things at times, so yes, it was just very inaccurate and it’s cost us dear.”
Despite Newcastle still sitting fifth in the table after this result, Richards appeared bitterly frustrated and described the performance as “inaccurate” on five occasions.
Leicester missed opportunities too but were typically methodical and exploited chances in a manner Newcastle failed to do.
Full-back Veainu started the scoring after 11 minutes with a wonderful try off the set-piece.
From an attacking lineout, Leicester moved the ball across the line before the Tongan showed an incredible change of direction to freeze the defence and score.
Within three minutes, the Falcons had cut the deficit to four points as Flood got up from a late Ellis Genge challenge to score a long-range penalty. But the visitors looked impervious to the Falcons attack, which has scored in quick bursts throughout the season. Instead, Leicester reasserted their authority after 18 minutes as dangerman Veainu burst through, offloading to England scrum-half Youngs for another converted try. The visitors were in the ascendancy, aided by a lack of discipline from the hosts. Were it not for Ford regularly kicking for touch, the Tigers could have had a far bigger advantage on the scoreboard. In survival mode defensively, Falcons offered precious little going forward until a minute before the break. An attack down the right caught Leicester off guard and after moving the ball along the line, ex-Tiger Goneva exchanged passes with Alex Tait and went over for a converted try. Flood added another penalty within minutes of the second-half restart to cut the score to 14-13 but the Tigers soon re-established their vice-like grip on the game.
It took two last-ditch tackles to prevent Brendon O’Connor and Genge, with the Falcons again scrambling defensively before England fly-half Ford scored with a penalty from the halfway line.
Home fans were doubly frustrated when referee Wayne Barnes failed to issue a card for a dangerous no-arms hit on Falcons centre Chris Harris.
But it made no difference to the scoreboard as Ford added two penalties in four minutes to pull the visitors away.
May sealed the win with his nowcustomary try late on, after taking a magnificent cross-field kick from Ford in for his seventh try in as many league games.
The visitors searched for a fourth try to grab a bonus point but the Falcons stayed strong to prevent further disappointment.
After the match, Richards couldn’t hide his frustration at his side’s failure to meet the standard they have set in previous Premiership games this season.
“We’re disappointed, we’re a better side than that,” he said. “We didn’t play as well as we could have done and they probably played as well as they could have done.”