Superb game
Gutted!
Superb game
By Leipziger
February 18 2007
The lionheart Falcons were today cruelly denied a victory at Bristol by a heart-breaking late penalty try, after Mathew Tait and Jamie Noon looked to have won the game for the visitors. However, with Ben Woods in the sin bin, referee Andrew Small saw fit to give the score for a collapsed scrum.
Superb game
February 18 2007
The lionheart Falcons were today cruelly denied a victory at Bristol by a heart-breaking late penalty try, after Mathew Tait and Jamie Noon looked to have won the game for the visitors. However, with Ben Woods in the sin bin, referee Andrew Small saw fit to give the score for a collapsed scrum.
Woods’ back-row colleague Russell Winter was sin-binned after only three minutes as Bristol took the lead with a penalty from David Hill, Toby Flood equalizing with a kick of his own soon after. Flood was linking delightfully with the rest of the Newcastle midfield as some beautiful passing set us going forward, and it was from a strong John Rudd run that Tait was sent over on the left for the opening try, although Flood couldn’t convert.
The first half was an intriguing battle between two strong packs as the Falcons were forced to make plenty of important tackles, and Hill and Flood both scored their second penalties as Bristol lost not one but three players to injury including Brian Lima who had to be helped off hobbling. Hill kicked his third penalty before half time to cut the deficit to just two points.
Bristol attempted to turn the screw after the break with some relentless attacking, however the energetic Flood made a good chip and chase break to counter, and on 48 minutes and some more nice movement and passing saw Jamie Noon free in the left corner to go over for another superb try after Ben Woods had made a barging run. Flood converted and the Falcons had a 9-21 lead.
Replacement fly-half Jason Strange scored a penalty as Bristol battered the Newcastle line, but the Geordies were managing to hold out somehow, as with each phase another defender appeared. We were however struggling to clear, and rarely if ever made it back into the home 22 after Noon’s try.
Strange’s second penalty brought his side within a conversion of the win, and with the regular 40 minutes up, Woods was sin-binned on our line and when a scrum collapsed the referee awarded a penalty try, which Strange duly converted.
Roared on by the traveling fans, the Falcons returned to looking like a team intent on doing something other than defending, but Bristol’s tacklers managed to keep us pegged around halfway, and as time seeped away, finally the home side kicked for touch and their unlikely victory was sealed 22-21.
Were we unlucky today? Yes it was cruel to have the game snatched away at the death after so much strong defending, but I feel that if the game had gone the same way but Bristol had scored their try after, say, an hour, and in a less controversial manner, we wouldn’t be feeling so sorry for ourselves. The fact is that we were dominated territorially throughout the second half, never looking likely to score again after our second try. Therefore, on the balance of that, I’d say Bristol were good value for their win.
The first half was an intriguing battle between two strong packs as the Falcons were forced to make plenty of important tackles, and Hill and Flood both scored their second penalties as Bristol lost not one but three players to injury including Brian Lima who had to be helped off hobbling. Hill kicked his third penalty before half time to cut the deficit to just two points.
Bristol attempted to turn the screw after the break with some relentless attacking, however the energetic Flood made a good chip and chase break to counter, and on 48 minutes and some more nice movement and passing saw Jamie Noon free in the left corner to go over for another superb try after Ben Woods had made a barging run. Flood converted and the Falcons had a 9-21 lead.
Replacement fly-half Jason Strange scored a penalty as Bristol battered the Newcastle line, but the Geordies were managing to hold out somehow, as with each phase another defender appeared. We were however struggling to clear, and rarely if ever made it back into the home 22 after Noon’s try.
Strange’s second penalty brought his side within a conversion of the win, and with the regular 40 minutes up, Woods was sin-binned on our line and when a scrum collapsed the referee awarded a penalty try, which Strange duly converted.
Roared on by the traveling fans, the Falcons returned to looking like a team intent on doing something other than defending, but Bristol’s tacklers managed to keep us pegged around halfway, and as time seeped away, finally the home side kicked for touch and their unlikely victory was sealed 22-21.
Were we unlucky today? Yes it was cruel to have the game snatched away at the death after so much strong defending, but I feel that if the game had gone the same way but Bristol had scored their try after, say, an hour, and in a less controversial manner, we wouldn’t be feeling so sorry for ourselves. The fact is that we were dominated territorially throughout the second half, never looking likely to score again after our second try. Therefore, on the balance of that, I’d say Bristol were good value for their win.
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