With mother off to Rome for a few days, I decided to decamp to the North Stand for the first time in about 3 years.  So, like many other Falcons I’m sure, my first thought upon waking up on Sunday morning was “Is it raining?”  Listening for a few minutes, I couldn’t hear anything, which was good.  Then I opened the curtains…torrential rain beating down on Chapel Park like a monsoon!

Although the weather had mostly cleared up (bar the odd light shower) by 2.30pm, I didn’t have a notebook to write on, so most of this is memory and having looked up the stats elsewhere (cheers Mark Smith).

Starting bottom of the table, we needed a big performance to avoid being in that position at Christmas, and with Jamie Noon, Mark Mayerhofler and Cory Harris back from England, injury and paternity leave, the side looked stronger than the one from Saracens certainly.

Our forwards put in a sterling performance against some big name Wasps, mauling well at times and also winning more lineouts than normal.  We were the first side to score, after Matt Burke booted a simple penalty wide early on, Mike McCarthy scored his first try for a year from close range, and Burke converted for a 7-0 lead.  Unfortunately Paul Sackey, who always seems to do well at KP, used his pace to pull a score back for the visitors, but England reject Mark Van Gisbergen failed to convert and we went into the break ahead by two slender points, although Mathew Tait might well have stolen a second try after a big crossfield kick from Tom May, but Wasps were able to make it safe.

Wasps took the lead through a converted Jeremy Staunton try in the second half, and we seemed to lose our way for a while by reverting to the horrible kicking game we do so badly.  However, once David Walder came on for the injured Toby Flood, the Falcons began to reassert themselves and Noon crossed for a try which Burke converted to narrow the deficit to just one point at 14-15.  Nothing more seemed to be coming, Walder missing a drop goal, until we were awarded a penalty straight out at around 35 metres.  Hearts raced as the realisation that there were less than 30 seconds left, and this would be the last kick of the game, sunk in.  As a year previously, Dave stepped up and put the ball through the posts to secure a sensational win!

Newcastle had won their first home league game of the season, and we have now climbed to 9^th.  We’re not safe now by any means, but we can go into the 3 week cup break without the fear of being bottom of the Premiership.  I got back into London at 00.10, got home just before 1 (having drunk an awful lot you understand) and then had to get up for work at 5.30 this morning.  Sitting in the office, I felt like I had been hit by a truck but a quick glimpse of the league table made my and I’m sure many other fans’ days.

A superb performance by the team, excellent graft by the forwards and especially, for me, McCarthy and Harris must take credit for the way they mixed the strength in the tight with intelligence in the loose.  Burke as well, as has been mentioned, showed he is a very good captain, as he is capable of making decisions quickly and sticking to them whatever, which I haven’t seen Charva doing this season.

A few observations on the general matchday:

1) The North Stand is nowhere near as loud as the South, whether it’s the lack of a roof I don’t know, but there didn’t seem to be many people shouting out there.

2) PA system in the North is terrible, considering in the South I don’t think it’s bad.  Sounded like a mumble as there were just too few speakers.

3) Bar service much better in the West, however, I must ask why halfway through the interval, with only a few people (though enough to mean we had to wait a minute or two) still waiting to be served, and with 20 half-poured pints behind him already, a lad insisted on keeping pre-pouring rather than serve people when they would never sell that many Guinness’s before the restart.

Well done lads, now go to Leeds and book us a trip to Cardiff!

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