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Stung in High Wycombe

First Falcons try
By Leipziger
November 25 2007
The first part of the Falcons’ two-match series at Wasps did not go according to plan, as the hosts finally overcame a stubborn Geordie defence to score a five-try victory and condemn us to a third successive Premiership defeat in High Wycombe today.

The loss does not drop us any lower than eighth in the table but leaves us only a point ahead of Wasps for when the Premiership resumes before Christmas.

 

The game overall was played out in the middle half of the pitch, hence this report probably won’t be to detailed.  Falcons fly-half Steve Jones missed a penalty in the first minute from a lineout, before we held up Wasps and from the scrum Danny Cipriani missed his first attempt at goal.

 

Jones’ second attempt, directly in front of the goal from around 30m, also missed although it looked good, and the Falcons first meaningful attack didn’t come until almost the half hour.  We kicked a penalty to the corner and despite losing the ball won a scrum.  Jones’ gap was missed by James Grindal delaying the pass, and when the fly-half did pass to Mathew Tait the England centre dropped the ball and Wasps raced upfield.

 

Man of the match Cipriani opened the scoring on 32 minutes with a penalty as some kind of non-flying bird (baby pheasant was mentioned, and I must say it looked like a pheasant) infiltrated the Wasps 22 and wandered off the pitch when the home players returned, stubbornly refusing to flu.

 

A second penalty quickly followed, before just minutes before the break Riki Flutey cut through the defence on the right or the opening try, and not long after one of the fastest men in rugby Paul Sackey went under the posts to secure an 18-0 lead for the hosts at half time, which was completely deserved despite our strong defence.

 

The second half began more positively with us getting some good possession, although not really threatening the Wasps 22.  On the counter-attack however, the Falcons managed to drive Jon Golding over for his second try in three games.  Jones’ conversion gave us slight hope, with Sean Tomes, Tim Visser and Lee Dickson all taking the field.

 

However, Wasps attack was pacey and, by now, irresistible, and Cipriani (whose interview is about to be on the radio, I think) eased through a slack tackle from Tomes to add a try to his afternoon.  With Josh Lewsey and Simon Shaw coming onto the pitch, David Wilson’s first Falcons try was merely a blip for Wasps.

 

Joe McDonnell’s introduction did little to help the Falcons as Wilson was sin-binned and Golding forced back onto the pitch, and when Sackey took the ball on the right 15m out, nothing was going to stop him sealing the home side’s bonus point, although Cipriani missed the conversion.

 

The last play of the match saw us win a lineout, but Wasps turned over and Cipriani capped off the win and his own performance on the left with another unconverted try, the final score reading 35-12, amazingly similar to the score in our defeat at Adams Park last season.

 

Saturday sees us return to High Wycombe with the chance of a semi-final in Cardiff if we win.  The Falcons fans want this trip; we want a chance of a final and a trophy.  Hopefully Wilkinson and / or Flood will make a difference, but with Wasps’ clinical finishing in the second half, and our failure to get into the 22 enough let alone score, I will probably be returning to Adams Park in six days more in hope than expectation.

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