The Rudd, Spud + Flood Show
By Leipziger
October 21 2006
The Falcons made hard work of Petrarca Padova in the second half at Kingston Park after a 4-try first period last night, as the European Challenge Cup campaign got off to a winning start 50-5 in front of a low crowd of only 4,233.
October 21 2006
The Falcons made hard work of Petrarca Padova in the second half at Kingston Park after a 4-try first period last night, as the European Challenge Cup campaign got off to a winning start 50-5 in front of a low crowd of only 4,233.
Newcastle rested Matthew Burke, Micky Ward and Phil Dowson, as Tim Visser and Lee Dickson started and a new back row formed from captain Geoff Parling, Brent Wilson and Andy Buist. Former KP prop Galo Alvarez Quinones was on the Padova bench.
Petrarca missed an early penalty before Toby Flood was on target to give the Falcons the lead, and the first try came after six minutes as Tim Visser and Mathew Tait combined for the England centre to score in front of Andy Robinson. He was followed over by Mike McCarthy who took advantage of a dominant rolling maul for a second try, and John Rudd pressed home the dominance with the first of a brace of tries, powering through with a long run. Flood converted all three scores.
Petrarca began to get more into the game around the half hour, and following a series of penalties Fijian Sisa Koyamaibole went over from close range, although former Saracen Nicky Little missed the conversion. It didn’t last however, as we stole a lineout and broke upfield, and Lee Dickson set up Rudd to secure the bonus point. Before half time Tait scored his second of the night and with conversions the Falcons went into the break 38-5 up.
Tait was taken off just before half time and replaced with James Hoyle, and during the interval Sean Tomes came on for Andy Perry. Although the Falcons kept up their attacking momentum initially, the clinical finishing of the first half seemed to have left them as Petrarca put in some lionheart defending, Rudd in particular missing a good chance.
Following a fast attack on the left, the ball came inside to Flood who knocked through but his chase was cut short by a late Italian tackle, however the referee was watching the ball as the crowd bayed for blood. Padova then had a little spell of possession, making the Falcons work to keep them down to one score, but an interception by Flood saw the fly-half leg it the length of the field and score a wonderful try behind the posts, which he converted. Ollie Phillips dropped with the line gaping and three other Falcons available with no marking defenders, but the home side weren’t going to be denied a half century and Phillips it was who repeated Flood’s long run for the seventh and final try, which James Hoyle looked but failed to convert.
Whilst 50 points is not to be sniffed at against anybody, I think we might have still expected a bit more last night, as tries will again be crucial in determining seeding for those all-important semi-final places and we did score 13 against L’Aquila last season at home. But lets not get ahead of ourselves, harder games are to come, like Brive away this weekend and our next crucial home games against Bristol and Harlequins.
Falconsrugby would like to thank the Minx Travel for their kind sponsorship of this week’s match report.
Thanks to Ruck n Roll for the headline too!
Petrarca missed an early penalty before Toby Flood was on target to give the Falcons the lead, and the first try came after six minutes as Tim Visser and Mathew Tait combined for the England centre to score in front of Andy Robinson. He was followed over by Mike McCarthy who took advantage of a dominant rolling maul for a second try, and John Rudd pressed home the dominance with the first of a brace of tries, powering through with a long run. Flood converted all three scores.
Petrarca began to get more into the game around the half hour, and following a series of penalties Fijian Sisa Koyamaibole went over from close range, although former Saracen Nicky Little missed the conversion. It didn’t last however, as we stole a lineout and broke upfield, and Lee Dickson set up Rudd to secure the bonus point. Before half time Tait scored his second of the night and with conversions the Falcons went into the break 38-5 up.
Tait was taken off just before half time and replaced with James Hoyle, and during the interval Sean Tomes came on for Andy Perry. Although the Falcons kept up their attacking momentum initially, the clinical finishing of the first half seemed to have left them as Petrarca put in some lionheart defending, Rudd in particular missing a good chance.
Following a fast attack on the left, the ball came inside to Flood who knocked through but his chase was cut short by a late Italian tackle, however the referee was watching the ball as the crowd bayed for blood. Padova then had a little spell of possession, making the Falcons work to keep them down to one score, but an interception by Flood saw the fly-half leg it the length of the field and score a wonderful try behind the posts, which he converted. Ollie Phillips dropped with the line gaping and three other Falcons available with no marking defenders, but the home side weren’t going to be denied a half century and Phillips it was who repeated Flood’s long run for the seventh and final try, which James Hoyle looked but failed to convert.
Whilst 50 points is not to be sniffed at against anybody, I think we might have still expected a bit more last night, as tries will again be crucial in determining seeding for those all-important semi-final places and we did score 13 against L’Aquila last season at home. But lets not get ahead of ourselves, harder games are to come, like Brive away this weekend and our next crucial home games against Bristol and Harlequins.
Falconsrugby would like to thank the Minx Travel for their kind sponsorship of this week’s match report.
Thanks to Ruck n Roll for the headline too!
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