Bonus point victory and "we are top of the league, say we are top of the league"
Great job by all

Made hard work of it a bit in the second half but some cracking defence when necessary, and very nice attacking moves too. Goneva man of the match for me, Welch not far behind.

Top of the league and loving it!

Harris was my man of the match.

He was excellent in defence and attack

Latu made some good ground going forward and he was unlucky in his defensive efforts in that he missed some big hits by inches.

I’m surprised that Goneva isn’t as explosive in defence as he is in attack, he hangs on to the tackle as such. He is good though.

Can't afford to play for 15-20 minutes next week against the Chiefs. Some good aspects, but the second half was quite disappointing. The posters who asked why do we need Flood got a reason today.

Good result for us another win more points on the table for us.

Really can't agree with you there alas. Yes we lacked some game management and composure in the last 20 but it wasn't down to our 10. We just played too loose for me. 29-3 up with the 4 tries I think we should have just gone to keep ball and been more conservative as the job was done.
19 points in 5 games and still lots more to come from the guys I feel.
Lets all enjoy the weekend!!

Two seasons ago 19 points wasn't far off our total season haul! We have come a long way in a short time. I know Deano has had the helm for a while, but it shows having faith in a project will allow it to flourish when everything starts to click.

Goneva was my MOM, two tries and two try saving tackles. The first saver being a great 'he's behind you' pantomime affair. Class.

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pa8
Goneva was my MOM, two tries and two try saving tackles. The first saver being a great 'he's behind you' pantomime affair. Class.

It was a brilliant chase and had that pantomime feel because the crowd were also growing the cheer in the build up to it.

He showed his class there. He also got straight up and made the next contact on the blind side as well.

Another 5 point win, I can now really start looking up rather than at the bottom half of the table.
The last 30 or so minutes were disappointing, we took our foot off the gas and let Irish run the game. Our game management wasn't great and you could feel the nerves in the crowd with 10 to go as the score got closer

Not long ago this was the sort of game where we'd end up losing but not any more. Great times to be a Falcon and have to say huge credit to Dean R and the coaches and our fantastic owner for backing him. Just goes to show that patience brings rewards, a lot of football club owners should take note.

Sorry if my over-enthusiasm irritated a few ears. At one point I heard someone at the back of the South Stand request: " Can someone turn Dick off please?"

Don t apologise for being enthusiastic Dick I agreed totally with your sentiments.
Mind you I was in the North Stand lol.

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dick g
Sorry if my over-enthusiasm irritated a few ears. At one point I heard someone at the back of the South Stand request: " Can someone turn Dick off please?"

That was me. It wasn't the noise, I just thought you were malfunctioning. Switching off then switching on again sometimes fixes it.

After the 3rd try I thought it was going to be a whitewash, but all credit to Irish they came back in style & made it a good game to watch right to the end. The disruption of our substitutions took some impetus out of our game, but as I saw it the change of fortunes at the end was more due to good stuff by Irish than poor play by Falcons.

Probably a good thing that they were made to work hard in the second half as they will be woken up a bit for the trip to Exeter.

The Irish changes helped them as well

Their replacement hooker was a livewire.

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Monkey1

Quote:

dick g
Sorry if my over-enthusiasm irritated a few ears. At one point I heard someone at the back of the South Stand request: " Can someone turn Dick off please?"

That was me. It wasn't the noise, I just thought you were malfunctioning. Switching off then switching on again sometimes fixes it.

After the 3rd try I thought it was going to be a whitewash, but all credit to Irish they came back in style & made it a good game to watch right to the end. The disruption of our substitutions took some impetus out of our game, but as I saw it the change of fortunes at the end was more due to good stuff by Irish than poor play by Falcons.

Probably a good thing that they were made to work hard in the second half as they will be woken up a bit for the trip to Exeter.

I will change my batteries.

Tommy Bell & James Marshall got the backs working in a way that would find holes in a less well organised defence. I know people rate the Oirish forwards but if the rest of the backs can work around those two when going forwards they will punch holes in defensive lines. Really pleased that they gave us a good game, as a walkover is never good to watch unless you have many pints on board & are just out for a laugh.

What was the official attendance last night?

Think it was about 7,650

Not a bad crowd for a game that was also on the telly.

Bristol supporters will ridicule it as unsustainable of course. Hmmm, that will be the club that is currently top of the Premiership, has a swanky new fantastic pitch, top quality and proportionate ground improvements year after year to make it a better and better place for rugby, and making losses of less than half of what Bristol do. Not sustainable at all then.


It was a great atmosphere last night, the South Stand comfortably packed, went a bit flat when it looked like we would run away with the game but the crowd fired back up in superb style when Oirish upped their game & made a proper contest of it.

All in all a grand night out. A fitting end to a good day, including getting tickets for the very final Runrig concert in Stirling next August, not bad considering they sold out in about 15 minutes.

Feeling pretty chipper today as I make a nice big pan of soup.

I can't believe people have the audacity to complain about how we won with a try bonus point after what we've endured for the last decade or more.

did i notice a falcons sporran being passed about? would go well with my tartan trews!!


Anyhoo another win and 5 points. i looked at this game as a potential banana skin as irish would target us for points. Yes we switched off for the final 20 mins with 6 subs made it was to be expected.
a word on wills - i thought his game management was good and he mixed things up well he was a target for irish in the first 10 mins and was finding it tough but he seemed to grow into the game and did well.

top of the league.....who would have dreamed of that 2 months ago? my only problem is that i have promised to take my two lads down to twickers for the grand final so i have to start saving up

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There's 35 seconds to go
I can't believe people have the audacity to complain about how we won with a try bonus point after what we've endured for the last decade or more.

That’s called expectation

Or sometimes
Wanting to run before you can walk.

Certainly no complaints from me!!

I though the first half was very good but they went a bit off script in the second half - some iffy offloads and a bit directionless - as Alas has said they can't afford a period like that against the Chiefs. Goneva MOM for me - the chase-down tackle was a Champagne moment.

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Doddie's tartan trews
did i notice a falcons sporran being passed about? would go well with my tartan trews!!

You did indeed, but it is definitely a one-off. Due for its first public outing to complement a fine Northumbrian kilt for the Exeter game I am told. There will be two Northumbrian kilts on the bus to Wasps, surely that alone makes the trip an attractive proposition.

I actually was pleased that Deano and co were not happy with what happened in the second half. It shows that this could be a meaningful shift for the club as opposed to just an early season honeymoon.

It has been a dark decade but we need to make sure these standards don't slip. The scary thing for me is that we STILL haven't played as well as we could have done. The sale game, for example.

Unfortunately, we now have an Exeter backlash to contend with next week. Could be a tough afternoon but they just have to go and give it a thrash.

Anyone else think Santi socino has been an absolute revelation?

I thoroughly enjoyed the game last night. I thought Irish were better than the score suggested. We seemed to start off quite nervously, I’m not sure if it was the sense of antisipation or knowing what’s at stake or possibly Irish playing phases going forward?

Once the first try went in from JPS, I thought it was inevitable that we would get the try bonus. The way Willis put his body on the line, to get so flat to the gain line was impressive. The tails went up and an air of superiority was spread, tackles were made, offloads sticking lovely attacking lines being made. This was exemplified in the second try a south sea Island highlights reel, superb steps and passing from Goneva, to Latu great offload no look pass to Takulua and Goneva follows in for the score a thing of beauty.

2 more bully boy trys followed with the forwards taking control from set piece, lineout (Socino darts we’re accurate ) and Niki sneaking in the middle of a maul to show the forwards How it’s done .

We dropped off for 20 minuets in the second half and Irish got a foothold a lovely worked try for there first. The thing that impressed me most was the constant chat amongst our players and not letting the occasion get the better of them. It’s evident to see that the finishers are good enough and the squad depth is there. You’re no longer looking at the bench thinking who can inspire a performance they’re all good solid Premiership options and could rotate into the first 15.

Goneva was my Man if the Match, his tap tackle was simply brilliant and straight in front of me, his pure instinct stoped a certain try. The run chase down was comedy gold too but again prevented a try. Irish are a better side than Worcester on that evidence.

I was impressed again with Willis at 10 he’s clearly not the finished article but it’s admirable to be left to try and be creative at the top level of the game. His chip through for DTH was classy.

I will admit not being big fans of Chris Harris and Will Welsh but both were outstanding again last night Harris’s defence was brilliant and he’s so strong both carrying and unbelievable the tackle. Mermoz is going to have a job even getting on the bench at this rate, our centre pair are playing out of their skin and Mativasi is a beast from the bench.

It’s the unseen things from Welsh that I’ve not noticed before, calming players down when it boils over to prevent stupid penalties, continual talking, his discipline at the breakdown and his overall work rate is up there with any Premiership back rower.

I’m seriously impressed at our tempo, discipline and culture. We seem to be forming a winning mentality. Yes it’s still early days but I could only have dreamed of having 19 points and sitting in second at this stage. Well done to all at the club, long may this form continue. It’s on to a huge acid test at Exeter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2017 00:50 by alnwickfalcon.

Only got round to watching the full match highlights. Deano and fans being disappointed with the performance despite gaining the full 5 points really emphasises how far we have come this season!

The 2nd try really epitomises what we are all about nowadays. Lovely skills all round. Now we seemingly have the attack working and have a nice balance between defence/attack, we now need to work on our game management to close out these games.

A game which includes the JPS try from the top of the line out and the Goneva chase down tackle is worth anybody's money.Exeter will be a big test-especially after yesterday but I'm hoping that we shall match them in intensity and patience.

What happened to being able to watch the highlights or even the full match the next day?

I've looked on premier rugby tv and our game isnt there ?

BT Sport’s website has highlights, Prem Rugby TV should do eventually.

remember seeing a tweet from Prem rugby saying all full matches would now be uploaded on Monday morning (probably due to BT/Channel 5 wanting first shot to show the highlights)

This is a decent link to have bookmarked as BT Sport are pretty quick out of the traps on a weekend with highlights [sport.bt.com]

The BT Sport app is also excellent - I was sat in a soft play in South Shields on Saturday watching Leicester v Exeter on my phone while my daughter ran herself into a coma!

I'm sure my Dad of the Year trophy is in the post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2017 08:59 by markismith50.

Felt really funny about the win. How do the coaching team deal with this? We won but somehow I'm sure words will be said.

Nili Latu said they were not happy in the dressing room about the last 20 minutes

Strangely enough I thought Irish played just like the falcons of yesteryear... decent start, poor in the middle, then better once the game is out of sight.