Hodgson’s late double keeps Falcons in hunt
IF CONSISTENCY is the gauge of success then Newcastle’s record in the Premiership Sevens is arguably the best in its history.
The league’s curtain raiser has always been a productive competition for the Tynesiders and yesterday proved no different as the hosts navigated their way through Group D.
It was not as comfortable as their five previous forays in the tournament. Apart from 2012, where they were playing Championship rugby, the Falcons had never lost a game in the initial roundrobin phase, but that record was ended by Worcester at Kingston Park.
Even so, they still managed to top the group. In Tom Catterick and Joel Hodgson Newcastle had pace and creativity in the playmaking positions, while potential first team forwards Harrison Orr and Dan Temm provided the crucial ballast.
That gave them a nice balance as they secured victories over Sale (31-12) and Leicester (26-17), but Catterick was not pleased with parts of their performance.
“I think we made it hard for ourselves,” he said.“A lot of our own mistakes cost us at times, a lot of one-on-one tackles were missed and I was guilty of that myself.
“We’ve got to iron those out before we go down to the finals next week because it’s another step up.”
They were joined by Sale, who had the day’s best player in former Tigers wing Paolo Odogwu. He touched down eight times in three matches, the most by an individual in the pool stages.
“It was a nice experience to get out there, have a run out with some of the boys and it was good to show the coaches what I could do,” he said. “The priority was to qualify, and now we look forward to the finals.”
The opening game pitted the hosts against their northern rivals and it was the Manchester side that started the brighter, moving 12-0 ahead through Matt Rogerson and Odogwu, before Newcastle hit back.
They scored 31 unanswered points with Hodgson, Orr, Catterick, Dan Marshall and Dan Temm all crossing the whitewash as they sealed a 19-point victory.
Worcester and Leicester followed with an enthralling contest that began in dramatic fashion after yellow cards for Tigers’ Freddie Tuilagi – just eight seconds into the contest – and Jordan Olowofela for dangerous play.
Jordan Ainslie and Josh Adams took advantage of the extra men by touching down, but the Tigers mounted a superb response and won the encounter with scores from Olowofela, Tommy Reffell, Tuilagi and Andy Brown.
A fatigued Leicester were then thrashed by the Sharks having had to back up that previous display.
Odogwu was the star, surging across the line four times against his former club, while 18-year-old Ben Curry went over twice.
It meant that the two northern clubs were in pole position to qualify after three matches, but the Warriors had other ideas in game four, surprisingly racing into a 24-7 lead over the Falcons through a hat-trick by Adams and another from Ted Hill.
Although Marshall and Adam Radwan reduced the arrears late on the West Midlanders held firm.
However, they had to return to the field almost immediately to take on Sale, who evidently enjoyed the better of the draw. Odogwu added to his tally, crossing for a hat-trick, as the Sharks completed a 31-0 victory and booked their place at the Ricoh Arena next week.
The other position was up for grabs with Newcastle and Leicester going head-tohead in a winner-takes-all clash.
It was a tight affair with the teams trading efforts early on, but midway through the second half Falcons took control and secured top-spot via Temm’s effort and a Hodgson try-double. RESULTS Newcastle 31 - 12 Sale Leicester 26 - 24 Worcester Leicester 7 - 55 Sale Newcastle 21 - 24 Worcester Sale 31 - 0 Worcester Newcastle 26 - 17 Leicester