Young Falcons put Bordeaux to sword
NEWCASTLE tightened their grip on Pool 1 with a crushing bonus point win over Bordeaux-Begles at Kingston Park.
The Falcons now top of their group with 14 points from three matches from the Dragons.
“To score eight tries is a great result as they brought over a quality side,” said Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards.
“I was really pleased in the manner in which we won. We gifted them a couple of soft tries which was a bit galling but we bounced back really well.
“There was a lot of youth on show today and they played outstandingly well. We did lose a little bit of shape in the second half but overall it was a pleasing result.”
Bordeaux ended match in some disarray with only 14 men on the pitch after No.8 and former Bath player Leroy Houston was injured and they had no-one left to replace him.
Houston, who had damaged a shoulder, highlighted Bordeaux’s inability to close down Newcastle.
“It’s always disappointing to lose but Newcastle did the business – they broke loose towards the end of the first half and they caught us out of position and we couldn’t adjust.
“It became a very open game in the second half but even after we scored a lucky intercept try we couldn’t capitalise on it.”
Newcastle did all the damage in the first half scoring six tries and wrapping up the try bonus point in the first half hour.
Calum Green got them off to a great start in the third minute after a powerful Sam Lockwood run, winger Adam Radwan added a scintillating double either side of Mark Wilson’s close-range effort and there was a 30-metre crashing run from hooker Ben Sowery to score.
But the pick of the scores started on the Falcons own try-line, involved half a dozen players, and ended with Craig Willis snapping up his own kick-through to score a try which he converted for the Falcons to lead 38-17 at the break.
Bordeaux had not rolled over, however. They scored two superb tries through half-backs Matthieu Jalibert and skipper Yann Lesgourgues and actually led 17-12 up to the 27th minute when Wilson hammered his way over.
After that, Radwan’s second clinched the bonus point and Sowrey and Willis’ pulverising scores in the space of seven minutes gave Newcastle a comfortable half time lead.
An error-strewn second half followed but Geoffrey Cros’ 55th minute interception try made it 38-24 with Ben Volavola’s conversion briefly raising Bordeaux’s hopes.
But both sides lacked accuracy until Mark Wilson made yet another surging run to put Alex Tait over and Joel Hodgson converted for 45-24 with just under 20 minutes left.
Bordeaux ended the match struggling after Houston’s injury and Newcastle administered the coup de grace with Hodgson’s break and Josh Matevesi’s score to take it past the 50-point mark.
Next week’s clash between the Dragons and Newcastle at Rodney Parade will go a long way to deciding the group with the Falcons currently holding a four-point advantage at the top.