Gunners defy wild weather to leave Falcons floundering

EDINBURGH..31 NEWCASTLE..13

GUNNERS shook off the jitters at storm-lashed Murrayfield to boost their Euro glory quest.

Richard Cockerill’s troops clicked brilliantly into gear when it mattered as they floored the Falcons.

And scrum-half Henry Pyrgos hailed the power of Edinburgh’s forwards in the victory.

He said: “The forwards were the guys who made it happen.

“They were dominant and we eventually took the game away from Newcastle.

“Conditions were very hard but the efforts of the lads up front meant I had a great supply of ball to work with.”

Edinburgh had looked ragged during the opening exchanges and Brett Connon edged the visitors in front with a penalty.

The hosts charged back with pack-power and flanker Hamish Watson wheeled over for a try in the 14th minute at the end of well-controlled phase play.

Jaco van der Walt converted via the inside of the far post. But the swirling wind and lashing rain was making slick handling almost impossible.

The flow of the contest wasn’t helped either by a series of poorly directed positional kicks.

Edinburgh suffered a setback on the half-hour mark as the Falcons created a try from nothing.

The home defence was caught 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 from a wicked angle.

Van der Walt should have levelled the scores from close in, only to see Connon find the target at the other end just before the interval.

The Gunners looked much hungrier after the restart and centre Chris Dean crashed over for touchdown No.2 in the wake of fine pick and drive work. Van der Walt turned it into a sevenpointer with the conversion.

The Gunners kept up the momentum, forcing the Falcons back into their 22-zone for a prolonged period.

The Tynesiders were very lucky to dodge a yellow card for repeatedly killing the ball.

Ref Marius Mitrea eventually lost patience and handed Edinburgh a penalty try.

DAVID KELSO AT MURRAYFIELD

Darcy Graham thought he had grabbed a fourth but TV replays showed he had been nudged into touch before the ball was grounded.

The home side then had to dig deep in defence 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 added the goal.