Sad Falcons grounded by Edinburgh
DEAN RICHARDS’ injury-ravaged Falcons slide slipped to their first Heineken Cup Pool Five defeat at storm-lashed Murrayfield last night.
Newcastle went into the clash against the Scots missing several front row players and without a recognised tighthead.
And despite leading 13-10 at half-time, the English side could not hold on and Edinburgh secured a try bonus point to go top of the pool.
Richards will be hoping his side can avenge the defeat in the return at Kingston Park next Sunday.
Edinburgh had looked ragged during the opening exchanges and Brett Connon edged the visitors in front with a penalty.
Back came the hosts with pack-power and flanker Hamish Watson wheeled over for a try in the 14th minute at the end of wellcontrolled phase play. Jaco van der Walt converted.
The swirling wind was making slick handling difficult and the flow of the contest was not helped either by a series of poor positional kicks.
Edinburgh suffered a setback on the half-hour mark as the Falcons created a try from nothing.
The home defence was fast asleep when winger Adam Radwan was left with a cruise to the line. To add insult to injury, Connon defied the elements to add the extras. Van der Walt should have levelled up the scores from close in – only to see Connon find the target at the other end just before the interval.
The Scots looked much hungrier after the restart and centre Chris Dean crashed over for touchdown No2 in the wake of fine pick-and-drive work.
Van der Walt turned it into a seven pointer.
They kept up the momentum and the visitors were lucky to dodge a yellow card for repeatedly killing the ball but referee Marius Mitrea eventually lost patience and awarded a penalty try.
Darcy Graham then thought he had grabbed a fourth but TV replays showed he had been nudged into touch before the ball was grounded.
The home side had to repel a surge of Newcastle raids but they staved off further damage to end the tussle on top and Blair Kinghorn made sure of the bonus point when he won the race to a lovely chip by van der Walt, who converted. ❑ULSTER went joint top of Pool Four with a thrilling 25-24 victory at Scarlets.
They secured a try bonus point with scores from Jacob Stockdale, Henry Speight, Will Addison and Marcell Coetzee.
Scarlets replied with a Steff Evans double and a third from Dan Davis.