Hat-trick hero Radwan helps Falcons finish pool unbeaten

NEWCASTLE director of rugby Dean Richards praised his players after they comfortably saw off Enisei-STM in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to finish the pool unbeaten. Wing Adam Radwan,

right, scored a hat-trick for the second week running but Falcons had to fight back from 7-0 and Richards hailed their efforts.

“The Challenge Cup has been great for us, a number of guys have stepped up and we’re delighted with how they have gone as a group,” Richards said.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game and that Enisei would be a more difficult proposition over here than they had been at Kingston Park last week.

“They are a quality side, we paid them full respect and they made us work hard for every point. It has been a learning curve for the players but it has been good, and we can look forward to the quarter-final stage now.”

Having to travel via Scotland and Turkey and with a four-hour time difference to contend with, the Falcons boss added: “It has been a good experience in Tbilisi and we’ve been very well looked after, although the travel and the time difference were always going to have an impact.

“Bearing that in mind I thought the boys acquitted themselves well, we were a little bit slow to get going but at the end of the day we got the result we wanted.

“We didn’t quite get the level of control that we wanted in the second half when we had the wind behind us, it was always going to be hard but we got there in the end.”

Trailing 7-0 to a try by wing Federico Giliberti, the Falcons hit back with four tries before the break to secure a bonus point. Radwan grabbed two with Mark Wilson and Toby Flood also crossing.

Radwan touched down again in the left corner in the second half to complete his treble in between two Enisei touchdowns from Anton Sychev and Mikheil Gachechiladze.