This season will see the development side out and about, playing at various grounds in and around Newcastle – last night being the turn of Tynedale RFC, over in Corbridge.

Blooming trains!

An early 5:30pm kick off meant actually getting to the ground in time for kick off was something of a challenge… and yes Mally’s Law of Public Transport applied yet again! The train from Central Station to Corbridge was late, luckily Tynedale RFC is right next to the station and armed with excellent directions from the Tynedale’s website I arrived 10 minutes after kick off and Falcons were already leading …

According to my sources the centres combined well, with Little Un (a re-christened Matthew Tait) putting centre Adam Dehaty in for the try, which wasn’t converted. A few minutes later Sale’s number 10 apparently nailed a penalty to bring the score to 5 – 3 within the first 10 minutes.

Falcons’ number 11 Ollie Phillips, whose fast breaks and speed on the wing made him one of the stand out players in last season’s development side, broke with the forwards in support and from the ensuing ruck number 8 Jason Smithson crossed for Falcons’ second try. Fly-half Toby Flood slotted the conversion to put Newcastle Falcons ahead by 9 points.

Newcastle Falcons 12 – Sale Jets 3.

An "infringement at the ruck" had led to a yellow card for Falcons’ flanker Jamie Rennie and reduced Newcastle to 14 stretching their defense. Sale took full advantage of the resulting space – a well timed cross field kick and their number 15 Virney was over for the Jets’ first try. Much to JJ’s delight as she was busy texting the scores through to Mark H and her fingers were getting cold (!), the Sale fly-half missed the conversion.

Falcons 12 – Jets 8.

At this point Pod & I decided to investigate the refreshment facilities (very reasonably priced tea / coffee, decent ham sandwiches and Mars Bars!) reappearing in time to see the lanky figure of Eni Gesinde steal the Jets’ line out ball just short of the line and score Falcons’ third try of the match. Again JJ’s cold fingers had a text message respite as Flood missed the conversion.

Falcons 17 – Jets 8

Sale had a woeful attempt at a drop goal, but this was irrelevant as the referee was playing advantage, and had the back up of the penalty, which reduced the deficit to just 6 points at half time.

Half Time Score: Falcons 17 – Jets 11

Rainbows and running rugby...

With a rainbow in the sky above the trees Newcastle started the first half well. Little Un demonstrated he’s not just a speed merchant but also a lot stronger than he looks – dramatically powering his way through the Sale defence, in a move that had the crowd cheering! Toby Flood added the conversion.

Falcons 24 – Jets 11

Going 13 points down seemed to re-energise Sale who pressurised Falcons. Sale got up into the Falcons 22, and really should have scored, but the slippery conditions and a dogged Falcons defence initially denied them. (Scrum-half Lee Dickson and full-back Ed Burrill being two players whose tenacity stood out.)

Of the two halves if the first belonged to Newcastle then the second was Sale’s. The Jets’ persistence eventually paid off when their number 17 (who I have later discovered was Mike Hills) finally found the line.

Falcons 24 – Jets 16

Are you blind ref?

Speaking as a totally biased fan Newcastle Falcons lock Geoff Parling, was unfairly binned for supposedly pulling down the line-out – but neither myself or any of the other experts (?!?!?!) in the crowd saw the misdemeanour… (Boo hiss… are you blind ref?!?!?)

Sale snatched a lose bonus point in the last minutes of the game with another penalty.

Final score: Newcastle Falcons 24 – Sale Jets 19

Newcastle Falcons:

Tries: Dehaty, Smithson, Tait, Gesinde
Cons: Flood 2

Sale Sharks:

Tries: Virney, Hills
Pens: Blair 3

Newcastle Falcons:

15 Ed Burrill, 14 Stephen Jones, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Adam Dehaty, 11 Ollie Phillips, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 James Isaacson, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 Jonny Williams, 4 Andy Buist, 5 Geoff Parling, 6 Eni Gesinde, 7 Jamie Rennie, 8 Jason Smithson

Falcons' Replacements:

Danny Brown, Mark Darlington, Greg Irwin, Phil Ludford, Pete Phelan, Mark Laycock, Amarveer Ladhar

Sale Sharks:

15 Oliver Virney, 14 Matt Riley, 13 James Hoyle, 12 Jason Duffy, 11 Ben Foden, 10 David Blair, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 1 Danny Greenhalgh, 2 Neil Dowridge, 3 Martin Halsall, 4 John Carter, 5 Sean Cox, 6 Adam Newton, 7 Hugh Perrett, 8 Pete Anglesea

Jets Replacements:

Allen Davies, Mike Hills, Stuart Coadley, Ben Lloyd, Chris Leck, Daniel Amos, Alex Davies

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