Of course, the several hundred Falcons fans at Headingley weren’t aware of proceedings nearly three hundred miles away as Matt Burke stepped-up to launch a last-kick of the game penalty from 50m out wide. Every single one of those fans was secretly hoping that the Aussie’s kick would sail between the posts while, at the same time in South Wales, some up and coming Sale starlet would make a name for himself in similar fashion. It wasn’t to be. Burke’s kick had the power, but went just wide, and in the other game the Scarlets held on. For 2005-2006, our domestic cup campaign is over.

With the Falcons determined to continue the momentum gained by the memorable league victory over champions London Wasps the previous Sunday, they began with a similar starting XV. With Tom May beginning his recovery after suffering an ankle injury against Wasps and Mathew Tait on England Sevens duty in Dubai, Toby Flood and Joe Shaw came in, the latter making his first competitive start since January. Matt Burke again captained the side, with Colin Charvis keeping the bench warm after his exertions for Wales in the autumn international series.

There was a decent atmosphere in the ground at kick-off with the bulk of the crowd of just over 3,300 keeping out of the drizzle either on the covered South Stand terrace or in the North Stand seating. Things started brightly for the Falcons with good pressure leading to a successful early penalty from 30m from the skipper. McCarthy and Noon were quickly out of the blocks with a couple of crunching hits and Mayerhofler and Shaw were then prominent in defensive action as the Falcons sought to stamp some superiority on the game.

The home side – with former Falcon James Isaacson in their front row - regrouped after the initial battering and on 11 minutes fly half Gordon Ross slotted a penalty to level it at 3-3. This seemed to settle the Tykes and they proceeded to play the best rugby of the match for twenty minutes or so. Ross and his half-back partner Danny Care were the pivotal players, pulling the strings during this period. As a pairing they were excellent, Ross rediscovering the form that was instrumental in securing Leed’s Premiership survival and winning the equivalent of this trophy last season and Care demonstrating that he is taking every opportunity to learn from one of the game’s all-time great scrum halves: Justin Marshall. Care’s opposite number, however, seemed intent on taking the ball into contact at every opportunity, a somewhat risky strategy given the absence of scrum half cover on the Falcons’ bench (the versatile Joe Shaw was evidently the cover). Indeed there were a few anxious moments 15 minutes into the game with Grindal requiring treatment to a leg injury.

On 19 minutes, Leed’s dominance bore real fruit with a try from full-back David Doherty. It stemmed from a superb Ross cross-field kick from which Tom Biggs outmuscled James Hoyle to palm the ball backwards with great skill. From then, the Falcons were on the back foot, they couldn’t stop a stop a maul and Doherty broke through with a lovely step to score his first try of the season. Ross converted for 10-3.

With the Falcons under real pressure, first Burke and then Noon were required to race back to chase downfield kicks. Ross repeatedly found touch with a series of torpedo kicks, one stunner from the base of a ruck in the Leed’s 22. On 27 minutes a penalty to the home side was kicked into touch and from the resulting maul Ross stepped back to hit a sweet drop goal. 13-3.

It was then the Falcons turn to regroup and exert some pressure deep in Leed’s territory. On 33 minutes a penalty was conceded and, after a kick into touch, a solid McCarthy take at the line-out resulted in a powerful maul from which Cory Harris broke away from to get the visitor’s first try, touching down in the corner. Burke’s conversion was close, but not close enough, and it was 13-8. With the Falcons looking to press home the initiative, Leeds were wobbling and hooker Gordon Bulloch was sin-binned for cynical work on the floor on the stroke of half-time. With tempers getting frayed, referee Wayne Barnes took the easy option and blew for the break, with the Falcons 13-8 down. News from Stradey Park gave cause for optimism: Sale were evidently making a game of it.

Tino Paoletti and Matt Thompson replaced Ward and Long for the second half. To put it bluntly, the Falcons totally wasted the period in which they had numerical superiority and barely managed an attack. Dave Walder appeared for Flood and Andy Buist for Perry on 49 minutes, just as Gordon Ross fluffed a penalty – his first error of the evening. Better followed though for the Tykes as they extended their lead on 51 minutes with a try from Biggs. With the try unconverted, but holding an 18-8 lead, Leeds then fielded a trio of replacements, including former Falcon Jon Dunbar.

With Thompson’s line-out throwing going horribly wrong, the situation was looking lost, despite the best efforts of Noon who looked to smash through the Leed’s defence at every opportunity. Colin Charvis arrived in place of Jason Smithson with a quarter of the game remaining. A more measured approach was adopted with the Welshman orchestrating affairs. On 62 minutes, and following a period of pressure going through the phases, Walder fed Joe Shaw who simply blasted his way through a couple of tackles for an excellent and well deserved try. Burke did the business. 18-15. Game-on.

There were some problems in the Newcastle front row, with Micky Ward returning for Robbie Morris and the arrival of Gavin Kerr for Isaacson wouldn’t have helped matters. On 68 minutes, a Walder missile into touch led to a line-out steal for the Falcons but the ball was lost immediately at the breakdown. Two minutes later it looked like a certain second try for Shaw after a Noon break led to the winger racing through, only be brought down just short. With the game entering its final minutes, the Falcons continued to press - but pressure simply can’t be maintained if you don’t win your own set piece ball. Another poor line-out throw from Thompson on 76 minutes brought more frustration for the visiting fans.

But it was the old stagers who kept their heads. At this level, is there a better scavenger at the breakdown than Colin Charvis? With Leeds just too desperate to regain possession, it was inevitable that Wayne Barnes’ arm would be raised for a penalty to the Falcons. Burke calmly levelled with a 35m effort.

Given the see-saw nature of the game, a draw was probably the right result and most of the crowd had accepted that with the game deep into injury time. But the Falcons kept going and incredibly were given a drink in the last chance saloon as Leeds conceded another penalty. Out wide and just inside the Leeds half, our Aussie full-back set the ball on its tee. All thoughts were divided between here and Stradey Park; a real moment of ‘what ifs?’. The kick was powerful enough but went agonisingly just wide. The stadium announcer was good enough to give us the score from Wales at full time, so we knew. Well done to the Scarlets, who proceed to the semi-finals.

Understandably, all the talk afterwards was about the crunch Premiership game at Headingley two days after Christmas. The Leeds fans were clearly buoyed by events this evening that they will go into that game in a positive frame of mind (one hopes that they will be rather more sporting next time when Burke, Wilkinson or whoever is taking place kicks). What was far from their first XV more than held their own against a strong Falcons side. With the mercurial Justin Marshall and influential powerhouse Andre Snyman back in their ranks, the Falcons will need to up their performance level – in certain areas - a few notches in order to get a win.

For us, the question in the minds of many travelling north after the game was ‘did we really need to switch hookers at half time?’. The return to the starting line-up of a clearly fired-up Joe Shaw was the big plus from the game. For me, he was Falcons MOTM – superb in attack and solid in defence. Danny Care got the official award but Gordon Ross must have run him close.

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