Connon the marksman guns down sorry Bears
NEWCASTLE fly-half Brett Connon redeemed himself for his second-half sinbinning by sealing Falcons first win against a poor Bristol side since 2018.
Callum Chick’s firsthalf try and Connon’s points from the tee were enough to hand the Bears their fourth defeat in five games – the same as they conceded through the whole of last season – and they looked a shadow of their former selves.
The home side dominated the game for large parts but struggled to reflect that on the scoreboard in a stop-start encounter which sees Dean Richards’ side jump back up into the tophalf of the table.
Falcons DoR Richards said: “We like to play with a bit of dynamism but neither side could get into the groove. It wasn’t particularly entertaining with lots of errors but to get our third win out of five I’m happy.
“We played averagely at times, but we were unlucky. We put all the pressure on Bristol but didn’t quite get over the line. If we’d been able to get a second try you felt they would have folded.
The game had the hallmark of two teams short of confidence after both suffered defeats in London last weekend.
Neither could get any real momentum with Bristol’s penalty count high and Falcons’ error count even higher.
The Bears best chance of the first-half came early on, with No.8 Fitz Harding intercepting and making 30 metres past Mike Brown and Ben Stevenson before lock Joe Joyce gave away possession.
Newcastle’s quicker line-speed meant Bristol were often resorting to the high ball, and Welsh fullback Ioan Lloyd played impeccably as almost a second five-eighth in the loose.
Falcons’ ability to force penalties gave them several five-metre lineouts. But four five-metre lineouts and three scrums near the try line within five minutes in the second quarter counted for nothing and hooker George McGuigan didn’t throw long again.
On the 38th minute, Bristol skipper Dave
Attwood gave away a penalty for a high shoulder barge on Argentine wing Mateo Carreras following a great string of Falcons play after Louis Schreuder intercepted a Lloyd running break.
The ensuing lineout went short and after Schroeder, Max Wright and Brown had all gone close, blindside Chick powered over by the right upright to break the deadlock.
Newcastle started the second 40 where they had left the first, but solo breaks by Bristol scrumhalf Harry Randall and Lloyd brought the visitors back into it.
Connon was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and three minutes later Randall danced around Falcons’ No.8 Carl Fearns to open up space for wing Alapati Leiua and the Samoan international had just enough gas to slide over in the corner.
Brown covered well to stop Randall going for another dance and Bristol’s high penalty count in the loose – holding on several times – allowed Connon to score two of three penalty kicks and round out Newcastle’s first win against Bristol in five clashes.