Match reaction: Newcastle Falcons 17-18 Leinster A

 

Friday 17 May 2013 – 7.30pm

Kingston Park, Newcastle

British & Irish Cup Final

 

Well, if the Falcons are going to lose one game out of the last three of the season, I suppose that was the one to lose.

 

It’s disappointing to lose the cup final as indeed it is any game, but we have bigger fish to fry this season and if we get past Bedford into the Premiership then last night will soon be forgotten.

 

That would be sad though because it was an absorbing game between two committed sides who both wanted to get their hands on silverware, but in the end a couple of mistakes cost the Falcons late in normal time and extra time, allowing Leinster’s reserves to secure the cup on the same night their first team won the Challenge Cup over in Dublin.

 

It was a good night for rugby, in contrast to today’s weather in Newcastle, and I think the Falcons played their team selection right, putting in some experienced players who needed games and had the chance to play themselves into the team for Thursday, and a few youngsters like Zach Kibirige and debutant Jamie Sole. I thought the latter had a solid game while he was on, certainly didn’t do a lot wrong.

 

Kibby was a bit quiet perhaps but took his try very well and kept up his record of scoring on every first team appearance.

 

Other than that, Joel Hodgson had a cracking game and was certainly in the running for man of the match. I don’t think I’ve seen a Falcons fly-half as lively as him in attack, his size seems to be an advantage in that, allowing him to squeeze and slip around defenders. He also made at least four try-saving tackles, two in the space of about ten seconds later in the second half, and for all that can be forgiven his dithering that led to the scrum and match-winning penalty for Leinster.

 

James Hall also showed why many Geordie fans are sad to see him go to Bristol with a solid game in the scrum and a few good runs.

 

Rory Lawson was clearly rusty, not starting well with a dropped ball, but got better as the game went on and gave our other scrum-halves a lesson in box kicks. Having said that, I was surprised by how good Chris Pilgrim was when he made his comeback from eight months out with injury.

 

If Pilgrim can and does play himself to a new contract, I hope he truly has ironed out some of the frustrations I and some other fans have had – looking at the referee too often rather than playing the game, and slow service – as last night his box kicks and passing were far better than I remember. He and Mike Blair might be a decent pair at nine next season.

 

Some other players did not perform quite so well, but then again I imagine some of these are in the “We need a squad to go up and these are the best we can get” category, and Mr Richards has a plan for his playing staff next season should we get promotion.

 

There was quite a good crowd last night for what was essentially a reserve game, even though it was officially a first team cup final. The numbers were no doubt boosted by the cheap tickets, or free for little ‘uns, and the hangover from Sunday. That might have led to the crowd being a bit subdued for a lot of the game, but certainly the atmosphere really cranked up in extra time.
That is a novelty that a lot of us probably haven’t seen at a live game before – just a shame we didn’t get penalties!

 

Right, that’s enough for now I think. No use dwelling on last night really, if we go up then this game will be barely a footnote in our history to add context to the playoff final win. As Paul Varley said in the programme last night, promotion is the absolute priority and in the end all that matters.

 

 

(Follow The South Stand Choir on Twitter: @SouthStandChoir)

Match preview: Newcastle Falcons v Leinster A

Friday 17 May 2013 – 7.30pm

Kingston Park, Newcastle

British & Irish Cup Final

 

I’m a bit busy these days so haven’t had much times for previews recently, but tomorrow night is a cup final, so I’m going to pull out something. It may not be the biggest prize we’re playing for this season, heck it’s not on the same planet as promotion to the Premiership, but the British & Irish Cup is a competition and a trophy there to be won.

 

Winning a cup can never be a bad thing, and in the 15-a-side game we haven’t won one since 2004.

 

After the semi-final draw pitched England v England and Ireland v Ireland, we host Leinster’s reserves at KP tomorrow night, with the Falcons having pitched the ticket prices well to get a good crowd – £10 for adults and kids for free.

 

Leinster A topped their pool with 22 points, two ahead of Pontypridd, with four wins from their six group matches. A 25-23 loss away to the Welsh side in week two still yielded a bonus point, and a last day draw at West Park with Leeds meant that Pontypridd’s five-point win over Jersey in April was academic.

 

In the quarter-finals, the fifth seeds were sent to Bristol and triumphed 26-30 on the same weekend that Leinster’s first team beat Wasps in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup. Andrew Conway, Andrew Goodman, James Tracy and Fionn Carr (not Fiona, as I first read it) were the try scorers at the Memorial Stadium.

 

Munster A were then sent packing in an all-Irish semi-final in front of 1,350 fans at Garryowen FC, to secure a final meeting with the Falcons as we beat Bedford the following day.

 

Leinster will be hoping to keep the cup in Ireland after it was won by Munster A a year ago, while the Falcons will want to become the third English champion in this tournament’s four seasons, following in the footsteps of Cornish Pirates in 2010 and Bristol in 2011.

 

 

The Falcons’ team is a mix of youth and experience, with a debut for Jamie Sole and possibly James Hallam off the bench, while Zach Kibirige is back in the team too for the first time since New Year’s Day. Alex Crockett, Andrew Higgins, James Hall and Chris York get rare starts and James Hudson is the captain on what will either be his final or penultimate home game as a Falcon.

 

Falcons: 15 Jamie Sole, 14 Zach Kibirge, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Andrew Higgins, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Rory Lawson, 1 James Hall, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 Scott Wilson, 4 Sean Tomes, 5 James Hudson (c), 6 Ollie Stedman, 7 Richard Mayhew, 8 Chris York.

 

Replacements: 16 Michael Mayhew, 17 James Hallam, 18 Scott MacLeod, 19 Taiasina Tu’ifua, 20 Chris Pilgrim, 21 Waisea Luveniyali, 22 Michael Tait

 

 

Leinster’s team:

 

15 Fionn Carr, 14 Sam Coghlan-Murray, 13 Brendan Macken, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Andrew Boyle, 10 Cathal Marsh, 9 Luke McGrath, 1 Jack O’Connell, 2 Aaron Dundon, 3 Michael Bent, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 5 Mark Flanagan, 6 Dominic Ryan, 7 Conor Gilsenan, 8 Jordi Murphy (c).

 

Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Martin Moore, 18 Leo Auva’a, 19 Daniel Leavy, 20 Adam Griggs, 21 Jordan Coghlan, 22 Adam Byrne.

 

 

 

(Follow The South Stand Choir on Twitter: @SouthStandChoir)

Match reaction: Newcastle Falcons 15-6 Leeds Carnegie

Sunday 12 May 2013 – 1.15pm

Kingston Park, Newcastle

RFU Championship semi-final 2^nd leg

 

Wow, what a game! Low on technical quality perhaps but not low on tension and excitement and that’s good enough for me. After all the doom and gloom of last week following Monday’s debacle at Headingley, we are now potentially 160 minutes away from the Premiership!

 

The Falcons pulled out their best performance for weeks when it mattered most and though Leeds attacked at the end, we were good value for the win that was by more than the required six-point margin. Maybe it didn’t have to be so nervy but it just made the victory so much sweeter and relieving at the final whistle.

 

Now it’s off to Bedford again next week for the first leg of the final, after hopefully winning the British & Irish Cup Final this Friday.

 

Things never go easy do they? We managed to take relegation down to the wire, we’ve won two horrifically exciting cup finals, and now it needed five penalties and some last-gasp defending to keep the dream of a quick return to the Premiership alive. I suppose, as I say, it just makes it more enjoyable.

 

Someone actually said to me before the game that he hadn’t enjoyed this season because for a lot of the time we’ve been winning, if not easily, then at least comfortably. It was certainly not like that yesterday and probably the finals won’t be either, and then next season we’ll want to relax again when we’re screaming while two points down with a minute to go yet again.

 

In the end it was probably no surprise that there were several changes to the team from the first leg, though Suka Hufanga was certainly a shock. I think he played far better than Tulip did a week ago though. Alex Tait had one of his best games for the Falcons I thought, Leeds had clearly identified Chip as a weakness under the high ball but he fielded everything he had to and they eventually gave up. Tait also contributed in attack with some charges from the back, even if the rest of the team didn’t always seem quite so enthusiastic.

 

It’s fair to say I haven’t been Warren Fury’s biggest fan this season, but yesterday apart from a kick straight to touch in the first half and giving Leeds the ball back in the dying minutes I thought he looked a lot sharper and made better decisions than at Headingley. I’d still put Lawson back in when he’s fit mind.

 

The forwards seemed to do better with Grant Shiells in there and the added beef of Matt Thompson and Carlo del Fava. Overall, the team appeared far more aggressive and up for the game, compared to last Monday when they looked like they expected to coast through. Perhaps after so many months the complacency that many believe was almost our downfall and the team will give Bedford the respect they deserve in the final.

 

Can’t wait for that one, Goldington Road is a cracking little ground and there will be a big crowd, hopefully plenty of away fans despite the unfortunate scheduling.

 

But for now, whatever happens in the play-off finals, at least Friday should be a good night and hopefully some silverware.

 

 

(Follow The South Stand Choir on Twitter: @SouthStandChoir)

Match reaction: Leeds Carnegie 24-19 Newcastle Falcons

Monday 6 May 2013 – 3.15pm

Headingley, Leeds

RFU Championship semi-final 1^st leg

 

Well, that wasn’t in the script was it? After 21 wins in the regular season, we’ve been beaten in the first leg of the playoff semi-finals by a team that finished 31 points below us in the table. But them’s the rules, and we have to dust ourselves off and get a six-point win or better on Sunday to keep alive hopes of getting back into the Premiership at the first attempt.

 

It was a frustrating afternoon as the Falcons were so often their own worst enemies, with poor tackling and silly decisions contributing to Leeds’ tries, and the fact is that we weren’t good enough and must improve because the Cardigans are a decent side with Premiership ambitions of their own.

 

It’s certainly going to be interesting at KP and there will no doubt be a sizeable and vocal away crowd as the Falcons provided at Headingley yesterday. But despite a poor performance, a five-point deficit is not the worst result in the world. The league table, and indeed the home match against Leeds back in September, show that we should be more than capable of putting more than six points on our northern cousins.

 

I am a little concerned as most people, but confident.

 

Some things need to be changed though. Oliver Tomaszczyk really seems to be struggling for fitness so chuck on Scott Wilson who has shown himself to already be more than competent at this level, and if his exams permit, why now throw in Zach Kibirige too? We really need some pace and unpredictability in the backs and he’s just the lad to provide it and Noah Cato seems to have gone off the boil a bit.

 

I don’t think Tane Tu’ipulotu was great on his comeback from injury, he didn’t seem to do a lot in attack and his lack of a tackle attempt contributed to the 22 break that resulted in Leeds’ first try. Not that he was the only guilty one on that count.

 

As for the scrum-half situation, well, a lot of people seem to have made up their minds on that. I’d be happy to see Hodgson there if none of Lawson, Pasqualin or even Pilgrim can play. Warren Fury doesn’t have enough speed for me, and his box kicks rarely get to a spot from where we can build, though people not chasing them does not help.

 

I imagine Uncle Semore had a frank chat with Dean Richards this morning but I still have faith that we’ll pull it off on Sunday, and then in the finals against either Bedford or Nottingham.

 

If nothing else, the B&I Cup Final is not going to be much of a fun night if we are no longer in with a shout of promotion.

 

 

(Follow The South Stand Choir on Twitter: @SouthStandChoir)

Match reaction: Bedford Pinks 15-18 Newcastle Falcons

 

Saturday 27 April 2013 – 3.00pm

Goldington Road, Bedford

British & Irish Cup semi-final

 

Well, it wasn’t perfect, but the Falcons responded how they needed to after last week’s shocker at home to Bristol and now we’re in the Bandi Cup Final!

 

Some of the Falcons Twitterati were not happy with the performance, particularly in the first half when we would have been lucky to have 20% of the possession, but the scoreline read ‘Blues 15-18 Away’ and that is all that matters. Now looking forward to the game against Leinster A in a few weeks’ time.

 

A win then will be a good boost going into the far more important games against either Bedford or Nottingham, should we overcome Leeds.

 

I’m certainly hoping for Bedford, it’s a proper rugby ground that I for one will miss in the Premiership, where stadia are often shiny but lacking in character. That slope really is something and in the daylight rather than dusk it’s clear just how big the difference in height is across the pitch.

 

Presumably the Falcons won the toss as we played uphill in the first 40, so it should not have been a surprise perhaps that Bedford dominated things early doors. The Falcons’ discipline was again off, even if the referee was a bit Irish (casual racist remark of the day out of the way). One example I can give is that players standing up in the scrum were continually ignored or at least not penalised, whereas one scrum that looked very clean (by today’s standards) resulted in a Bedford penalty.

 

Bedford’s kicker’s radar seemed a bit off and he missed a couple of kicks, while we took our opportunities and Jimmy Gopperth’s penalties put us 0-6 up at the break. That must have been a bit demoralising for Les Bleus.

 

Jonny Golding’s try early in the second half settled some Geordie nerves but Bedford weren’t lying down, even after the bizarre try by Noah Cato where he caught a 22 drop-out and fought through the Bedford defence to score. I didn’t think Noah had a great game yesterday but he was on the ball in more ways than one when he needed to be.

 

Jordi Pasqualin was even less impressive, coming off the bench and being carded for a professionnal foul pretty quickly. Mind, he will be as disappointed as anyone at screwing up a rare chance to get on the pitch and doesn’t deserve to be condemned as one or two have done. He isn’t the first Falcons player to get binned for blocking a try-scoring opportunity and certainly won’t be the last.

 

Things became very nervy when Bedford scored their second try to bring the score back to 15-18, but the missed conversion meant a drop-goal would have only given us a draw (and presumably extra time), not sent the hosts through to the final themselves. It didn’t get that far, to our relief the Falcons won a penalty and after the players put their handbags away, the ball was sent to touch and we were in the final!

 

I’ve mentioned a couple of players who didn’t have their best days, but despite the team perhaps not performing brilliantly overall there were some good shows. I’m not one of those who believes that Michael Mayhew should start for the All Blacks but he took his chance with open arms with some good defensive work and contributing to a solid scrum alongside the returning Oliver Tomaszczyk. Similarly, James Hudson did little wrong and was clearly driven to perform as he approaches his final month as a Falcons player. Alex Tait went from villain to hero in the space of a few seconds, with a howler of a missed tackle in midfield being followed up by a try-saving tackle on the far left.

 

Jamie Helleur was quite quiet I thought considering how well he has played since Christmas, but can be forgiven an off day.

 

Comedy of the day comes from Jimmy Gopperth, who was blinded by the sun as a Bedford penalty approached him by the posts and panicked, shouting for Tom Catterick to cover him. Jimmy’s panicky shout and frantic covering of his eyes was quite funny for those watching even if I can’t remember his exact words (it wouldn’t have been if Bedford had pounced and scored, obviously).

 

It was a mixture on the pitch but the job was done, and perhaps those who seemed to think the defeat last week was the end of the world should re-assess their thoughts.

 

The double is still on!

 

 

(Follow The South Stand Choir on Twitter: @SouthStandChoir)

Match preview: Bedford Blues v Newcastle Falcons

Saturday 27 April 2013 – 3.00pm

Goldington Road, Bedford

British & Irish Cup semi-final

 

A semi-final means it’s the business end of the season, and while most fans’ attention will rightly be focused on the playoffs against Leeds over the following two weekends, there is of course the British & Irish Cup last four meeting with Bedford tomorrow to consider.
This will be the second of possibly three visits to slopy Goldington Road this season, should both ourselves and the Blues make it to the Championship Final. The winners will host either Munster A or Leinster A in three weeks time to contest the cup, the two Irish reserve sides playing in the other semi-final tonight at Garryowen FC in Dooradoyle. Now there’s a name for a place. Apparently it’s a suburb of Limerick and yes it’s the club that gave the up-and-under its name.

 

Bedford were the top seeds going into the knockout stages of the cup and were the only side to take the maximum 30 points from their six pool games (we got 29 but two were lopped off for James Goode’s ineligibility in one game). The Blues progressed to the quarter-finals through pool two thus:

 

13/10/2012 Bedwas (A) W45-23

20/10/2012 Stirling (H) W87-10

08/12/2012 Neath (A) W62-12

15/12/2012 Neath (H) W69-23

12/01/2013 Stirling (A) W24-21

01/02/2013 Bedwas (H) W64-0

 

While we took apart Nottingham’s reserve team at KP in the quarter-finals, Bedford had an apparently trickier task at home to Llanelli but the latter became the third Welsh side to be dispatched at Goldington Road in 2012/13 (fourth including Cardiff in a pre-season friendly) by a scoreline of 32-18.

 

This is the second successive season in which Bedford have met Llanelli in this competition, and the Midlanders needed a last-minute try to steal a draw back in December 2011. However, despite Llanelli leading at half-time, Josh Bassett’s brace of tries and the boot of Jake Sharp ensured there would be one all-English semi.

 

Last season Bedford, Championship semi-finalists for three successive seasons, were not quite so successful in this tournament. Last season, they finished second in pool three behind Leinster A, after following up two early wins with a tight defeat at Melrose and the aforementioned 25-25 draw with Llanelli at home.

 

In 2010/11, Ulster Ravens topped Bedford’s group after beating the Blues 29-3 at Ravenhill on the opening weekend. London Welsh, who beat Bedford 26-13 at Old Deer Park, were second in pool C.

 

In between though, Bedford did get to the final but were beaten 17-14 by Bristol at the Memorial Stadium. Their run to the final saw big knockout wins over Leinster A and eventual Championship winners Worcester but the last match in Bristol was a bridge too far for the side that had the competition’s top points-scorer in James Pritchard and best try-scorer in Handre Schmidt in 2010/11.

 

 

Bedford’s record at the picturesque Goldington Road this season is formidable. Back in November we won 20-29 there, buy apart from that only Bristol and Leeds have been victorious on the hilly pitch, 6-18 in March and 24-33 two weeks ago respectively. That victory for the Cardigans could have sent us to Bedfordshire in the semi-finals of the playoffs, but Bedford recovered in their final two games against Doncaster and Moseley to ensure their own playoff against Nottingham.

 

We could though be back in the final.

 

 

I was quite interested to see what lineup we would put out tomorrow with the playoffs just around the corner, but there is only one change to the starting team from last week – Michael Mayhew replaces Matt Thompson. Maybe Dean Richards has told the team that were overall pretty bad against Bristol to go out and redeem themselves.

 

Falcons: 15 Tom Catterick, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Adam Powell, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Alex Tait, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Warren Fury, 1 Jonny Golding, 2 Michael Mayhew, 3 Scott Wilson, 4 Scott MacLeod, 5 Carlo del Fava, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Will Welch (c), 8 Ally Hogg .

 

Replacements: 16 Rob Vickers, 17 James Hall, 18 Sean Tomes, 19 Ollie Stedman, 20 Jordi Pasqualin, 21 Waisea Luveniyali, 22 Michael Tait.

 

 

Bedford team: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 James Stephenson, 13 Brendan Burke, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 James Short, 10 Myles Dorrian, 9 Luke Baldwin, 1 Darren Fearn, 2 Neil Cochrane, 3 Dan Seal, 4 Mike Howard, 5 Paul Tupai, 6 Gregor Gillanders, 7 Darren Fox (c), 8 Nick Fenton-Wells.

 

Replacements: 16 Scott Spurling, 17 Phil Boulton, 18 Don Barrell, 19 Tom Armes, 20 Darryl Veenendaal, 21 Jake Sharp, 22 Ollie Dodge.

 

 

(Follow The South Stand Choir on Twitter: @SouthStandChoir)

Match reaction: Newcastle Falcons 14-19 Bristol Rugby

Saturday 20 April 2013 – 3.00pm
Kingston Park, Newcastle
RFU Championship #22

Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen. We thought yesterday would be the completion of a 100% win record in the regular season, a century of points, and onwards to the playoffs.

Bristol spoiled the party though and I don’t expect anybody can deny that they deserved their win.

Our players’ minds seemed to be elsewhere, why I don’t know but if it was complacency (against a good team looking for a playoff place) then hopefully any belief that we have already won promotion has been erased.

There were very few players who earned their money yesterday. Adam Powell was probably the best of a bad lot, Alex Tait and Mark Wilson put themselves about and Jonny Golding had a solid return to the side.

Tom Catterick looked a bit out of sorts but hopefully that was a just a blip in an otherwise excellent season. The widespread criticism of Warren Fury shows that perhaps I do understand a little of scrum-half play since my opinions on our other 9s seem not to be too popular.

If Rory Lawson can’t play at Bedford, I hope Deano will finally give Jordi a game. If he has a mare then fair enough but give the lad a chance when others have had more than they deserve.

I was surprised to see James Fitzpatrick in the starting lineup and though he did make some metres with the ball actually in hand, he remains prone to butter fingers and a very high tackle.

Centre is a concerning position. Powell and Jamie Helleur will presumably pick themselves but after that only the still-very inexperienced Michael Tait has performed in that position this season. We’ll see.

The referee was extremely poor yesterday, missing forward passes by Bristol and a few drops by us as wel as high tackles from both teams – indeed his whole understanding of knock-ons seemed bizarre.

Then there was Alex Tait’s holding on in the dying minutes. Barring Stade’s early lineout in Paris in 2005, I think that might be the worst decision I’ve seen by a referee in almost 18 years of watching rugby.

But we can’t blame the referee when our penalty count was disgracefully high, we defended too high for Bristol’s try and left Fitzy exposed to pace, and often wasted good possession.

The positive we can take though is that while the Falcons were very poor yesterday and Bristol were far better, we only lost by five points. Remember this was our first competitive defeat for a few hours short of a year.

Bedford threw everything at us home and away and Nottingham did the same at Meadow Lane, but still couldn’t beat us. In our four home games against Leeds and Nottingham this season we have scored over 200 points.

It’s not time to panic just yet.

(Follow The South Stand Choir on Twitter: @SouthStandChoir)