A youthful Falcons team, including starts for Will Welch and Micky Young, could only cross the whitewash once courtesy of Ollie Phillips with a penalty try also being awarded by the ref; the canny breakdown nous of ex-Falcon Colin Charvis proved to be decisive in setting up two second half tries from Isaacs and Tovey.

Next up was an ECC opener against Spanish minnows Cetransa El Salvador at Kingston Park with nothing less than a convincing victory being expected by all and sundry: a nine-try rout subsequently followed with the Falcons racking up 63 points in the course of the game, Tim Swinson among the try scorers in the enforced absence of Geoff Parling.

However, it’s one thing to thrash a Spanish team on Geordie soil and quite another to translate that form to the paddocks of France: Brive were the next opponents, containing ex-Premiership English-qualified players in the forms of Andy Goode, Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson – in a close fought game of three tries apiece, it was the points attributable to the boot of Goode that proved to be the difference between the two teams in a 36-22 victory for the Frenchmen.

Injury woes raised their ugly head once more during the game as Tim Swinson was stretchered off with a head injury late in proceedings – a subsequent scan showed no major problems for the young flanker and, with three teams all sharing a victory apiece, the ECC group table was still wide open.

Attention was then turned back to the EDF game against Wycombe Wasps on Friday 24^th October – in a brutal and physical encounter, England centre Jamie Noon added to Bates’ injury list alongside backrowers Ross Beattie and Adam Balding plus the worrying knee niggle forcing tighthead prop Carl Hayman off the field.

The ‘Londoners’ ran rampant during the clash, running in four tries courtesy of Sackey, Rees, Voyce and Joe Simpson, all but one converted thanks to the boot of Danny Dipsatranny. In return, the Falcons could only manage a try from hooker Rob Vickers plus eight points from Rory Clegg to give an unflattering 13-26 scoreline, an early exit from the EDF competition for the Falcons and yet another feeble loss for Steve Bates to ponder.

As if an ignominious departure from the EDF was not enough, the Falcons now faced a visit from a resurgent Gloucester team in the final group game of the accursed competition – with nothing to play for (other than pride), the Falcons seemed to have done enough to win the game thanks to a try from rampaging loosehead Jon Golding, the conversion from Rob Miller and a penalty from the boot of Rory Clegg.

It was not to be, however, and a 77^th minute try from Gloucester’s replacement, Apo Satala, subdued the home crowd and further increased the pressure on Falcons’ DoR, Steve Bates who blamed a “lack of composure” and a loss of “that cool head at the end” on his team’s inability to put away the Cherry and Whites.

One glimpse of positivity came in the form of Tane Tu’ipulotu’s arrival from the Land of the Long White Cloud – indeed, Tulip had been considered for the game against Gloucester but, suffering from the cumulative effects of a long season in the Air New Zealand Cup and jet-lag, it was deemed more prudent to rest him for the home game against London Irish in a fortnight’s time.

Next: Agonising autumn and cocked-up Christmas

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