By Leipziger
October 18 2014
Newcastle Falcons showed a glimpse of what could be in a thrilling six-try first half last night, and despite a slump after the break, ran out 43-19 winners over Bucharest Wolves in the opening game of Pool 3 in the new European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Academy lads Will Witty, Chris Harris, Tom Penny (two) and David Nelson were among the try-scorers, the others coming from Lee Smith and Mark Wilson. The Romanians looked like they could be in for a long night as Witty and Smith crossed within the first ten minutes for a much-changed Falcons side, and indeed were 36-7 down at half-time, but a rally after the interval and two nice tries saw the visitors win plenty of friends among the home crowd.
Of the team that beat London Welsh in Oxford last week, only Noah Cato, Kieran Brookes, Dom Barrow and Mark Wilson kept their starting places for the Falcons, with several fringe and academy players brought in for game time. Andy Saull was rewarded for a good run of form in the reserves with the captaincy.
This was quite a sensible approach, and people like Rory Clegg, Warren Fury and Eric Fry will really have benefited from a run-out. Fry had a solid game against a predictably-strong Romanian scrum and did plenty of good work around the field, and Clegg showed a few nice touches, but seemed to find it difficult to get up to speed with the pace outside him, perhaps not surprising for a fly-half who has often played a more defensive game in the past.
Fury did nothing wrong bar one box kick in the first half that was charged down, no blockers having been put in place.
Another player getting a first start of the season was Rob Hawkins and this guy really impressed me. Carrying on from a lively outing in Oxford, Hawkins showed a good motor around the pitch and our lineout functioned quite well. A worthy senior understudy to Scott Lawson it seems, and a shrewd signing.
Of the youngsters, perhaps Penny stood out best for his cutting lines and lovely brace of tries, though having a familiar face alongside him in Harris, also a lively player, will have helped. A special mention too for David Nelson, who scored with his first competitive touch of the ball at KP!
There was not much in the way of atmosphere for most of last night, at least it didn’t seem so from the back of the South Stand – though many who had been at the Kassam Stadium said last night was still louder than last Saturday! It had the air of a practice match at times, but then I have said in the past that this tournament seems to exist only to give the rest something to do when the top teams are playing in the Heineken / Champions Cup.
Overall, the Falcons will have got a lot out of last night, giving a bit more sharpness to senior players who needed it and learning more about some youngsters. It’ll be interesting to see what team travels to Newport on Friday night – I’d wager that Kieran Brookes and Mark Wilson might be spared the long trip, but probably a few young EQP guys in still ahead of using the LV= Cup to build up for the Premiership again.
Three out of three!
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