Newcastle and Gloucester in Challenge Cup semi-finals
DEAN Richards could have been forgiven had he read the riot act at half-time after Newcastle Falcons struggled into the European Challenge Cup semi-finals.
But for Alex Tait’s double strike, engineered by man of the match Toby Flood midway through the second half, Newcastle could have been sweating on the result of this quarter final in which they conceded an alarming 13 penalties and spilled the ball with equally alarming regularity.
The Falcons director of rugby warned his side they could forget about winning a semi-final against Connacht or Gloucester, or a top four finish in the Premiership, if they continued to play like that. But he added: “The conditions were terrible, it wasn’t easy for the players.
“To be honest we didn’t play very well and, no disrespect to Brive, had we played well we would have scored a lot more points than we did. That’s the disappointing thing and, to be fair to the players, they acknowledged it in the changing room.
“It was a bit like after the Lord Mayor’s Show following St James’ Park last weekend and all the effort and endeavour which went into that. Today, we just didn’t have the accuracy and we have to learn from that.
“We know that if we play like that again we’re not going to get anywhere near the play-offs or win a semifinal or a final of the European Challenge Cup.
“We know what needs to be done and we just have too sort it out and we’ll be okay for the rest of the season.”
While Newcastle’s handling often let them down there was nothing to fault it when big second row Sean Robinson charged up and Sam Lockwood burst through then delivered a reverse pass for fellow prop Scott Wilson to score and Flood to convert.
Nicolas Bezy kicked a penalty when Nili Latu went over the ball but Newcastle struck again with a massive run by Ryan Burrows and Josh Matavesi sent in Zach Kibirige.
Confusion between Sam Stuart and Latu gifted Brive a try with No.8 Etienne Herjean snapping up the ball and racing 50 metres, Bezy’s conversion cutting the lead to just two points.
Brive could have led when Latu threw an illjudged over-the-shoulder pass at a scrum close to the Brive line and powerful centre Seremaia Burotu gathered and rampaged away. It needed a great tackle from Matavesi to prevent a second try.
Newcastle were twice over the line early in the second half but centre Chris Harris was held up and a rolling maul was ruled inconclusive.
They looked critical misses but Flood then stepped up to guide Newcastle through.
A surging run and long pass put Tait in at the corner and Flood did it again after some punishing pick and drives by his forwards, Tait again finishing well to end Brive’s resistance.
Flood departed job done and right on full time his replacement Joel Hodgson added a penalty to send the Falcons fans home happy.