Premiership Falcons are on the rise with Goneva

THE FALCONS are finishing the year in flying form, as Dean Richards’s side secured a hard-fought victory.

Newcastle’s last-gasp win last week at troubled Northampton was most welcome and their festive resurgence continued at a packed Kingston Park. A Vereniki Goneva try and a brace of penalties from scrumhalf Sonatane Takulua helped them into a 11-0 half-time lead.

Quins’ England full-back, Mike Brown, spearheaded a scond-half fightback, with a 43rd-minute try, but they headed back to London with a losing bonus point as the men in black held on to seal a fourth successive victory.

‘We should probably have had a few more tries,’ Richards said. ‘We knew they were going to come back in the second-half and they did.’

Richards paid tribute to his skipper Mark Wilson, whose 200th appearance was another tireless shift from the flanker.

‘To get to 200 when you’re only 28 says everything about his commitment. He delivers week in, week out.’

John Kingston, Quins’ director of rugby, said, ‘We had more opportunities, but you’ve got be take your chances… and we didn’t.’ • Todd Blackadder, the Bath coach, pointed an accusing finger at his players after a second-half surrender saw them lose 32-9 at Sale.

‘We just melted,’ Blackadder said. ‘There were too many missed tackles.’

Three Rhys Priestland penalties saw Bath lead 9-6 at the break, but Sale romped to a bonus-point win with tries from Josh Strauss, Byron McGuigan, James O’Connor and Will Cliff.