Squeaked it ?

He was a allowed to salute the crowd for a good period of time, the Falcons supporters obviously echoing Hugh's respect and feelings of loss, as you will see he will be a loss.

With such glorious conditions offering fantastic handling to the players and Newcastle having little pressure on them it was likely that the Falcons would treat us to an exhibition of back-play. Anyone who saw this year's PG cup final knew that the Newcastle backs were happy to lob the ball about. As I watched that match I did wonder what would happen when either of those sides, playing such free-handling tactics, met a side with a defence. Today would hopefully answer the question, for all the criticism Irish have taken of their recent play their defence does, by and large, hold - would they manage against such an expansive attack ?

From a the kick-off, play was fairly even, both sides getting a chance to probe the other and failing. Irish began a small foray into the Newcastle half when a ruck formed and Newcastle, keen to slow the ball, failed to roll away giving Barry a relatively easy penalty kick from about 35 yards. Initial signs looked good, one minute gone and Irish 0 - 3 up, Mr Barnes took some time out to warn Newcastle not to kill the ball.

From the restart Newcastle showed more of their plan, with a HC place already secured their interest in the league was minimal, couple this with this being their last home game of the season, and the first since their PG cup win and you get a team supremely relaxed and confident in their abilities. They began what was to become an exhibition of open handling. Irish made tackle after tackle to halt the brisk Newcastle attacks and each time the ball was off-loaded with the confidence that there would be someone available to collect it and continue the move.The Falcon attacks became relentless waves of pressure, it was tiring just watching the Irish, desperately stretched, putting in the necessary hits to impede the onslaught. Once a kickable penalty was inevitably given Dave Walder attempted a drop-goal, his missed attempt allowing play to come back for another kick. At this point we discovered that Mr Walder either still had a PG cup hang-over or he had forgotten to bring his kicking boots. The relatively simple attempt,slightly closer than Barry's successful kick, went nearly wide of the corner flag. Perhaps Newcastle were feeling pity for us after their win in the cup in January...

Perhaps not. From the resulting re-start Irish received a line-out in the Newcastle half but, sadly, knocked-on from it. From the resulting scrum Newcastle quickly, and easily, moved the ball wide left opening a simply enormous gap in the Irish line. Debutant Matthew Tait, a local youngster signed only on Tuesday and previously only playing in the regional diviisions received the ball in space, pinned his ears back and scored a nice try.Dave Walder managed to convert it and suddenly alarm bells were ringing in the Irish camp. Ten minutes played and Newcastle now had a 7 - 3 lead.

The alarm bells continued, it seemed Newcastle were able to take the ball from Irish at any breakdown, their line-out was superb, they fought for the ball on the ground, Vyvian, Dowson and Britz doing a fine job of turning over Irish on the ground, sometimes legally, sometimes not. It made for fairly uncomfortable viewing for an LI perspective. Falcons dominated the ball and it seemed that they would score at will. Finally they chose a move down the right to free Warren Britz from the base of a ruck to go over for a superb try. Luckily Dave Walder was still feeling sorry for us, perhaps for his almost single-handed performace at the Madejski earlier in the season. Nearly 20 minutes gone and Newcastle 12 - 3 LI, worse than that it seemed like the pattern of play was set for the rest of the afternoon. It looked like it would be a long trip home.

After more pressure, with Irish putting in desparate hits and trying to clear the lines it seemed like another try had to come. Horak was forced to take the ball into touch just outside our 22. The quick thinking Falcons took the oppotunity to take a quick throw and race for the line with only a few Irish to offer any resistance. The few must have been very pleased to see one of the approaching Falcons spill the ball forward. From the scrum Irish were awarded a welcome penalty to clear deep into the Newcastle half. From the resulting lineout Nick Kennedy was allowed a free take and space in front of him to make a good run. Completely isolated Nick had to make the decision to come inside and hope for support of back himself, he chose the correct option and went for the outside. A fantastic tackle from the drifting Falcon defender put Nick into touch on the 5m line but a lesser one would have seen a superb score. Maybe there was hope yet?

Irish managed further pressure on the Newcastle line but the home side looked relaxed and eventually turned the ball over and cleared their lines. The resulting lineout allowed Irish to counter attack. Newcastle shaken by recent Irish success defender with fervour, too much in the end as they were, again, penalised for failing to roll-away fromthe tackle. Barry made the kick good and, despite feeding off scraps, Irish were still in at at 12 - 6.

Play then settled into the same Newcastle domination, Irish were having to scrap simply to slow Falcon attacks down, occcasionally getting their hands on the ball and relieving a little pressure. One such pressure relieving kick was very welcome as Irish supporters eyes panned to the Newcastle left wing to find Matthew Tait and a Falcon centre waiting for their team to turn the ball over andf spin it out. They were marked, by Rob Hardwick and Adrian Flavin. The Irish defence was being stretched to breaking point. It did hold though, depite massive Newcastle pressure, play running from one side of the pitch to the other Irish managed to hold a firm line. The home centres and half-backs seemed to be able to jink and make 3-4 yards each time they got the ball. After a deep relieving kick from Barry, Jaimie Noon picked up the ball and, even though the Irish defence had come up to meet him well, managed to break through 6 tackles (maybe more) before being brought down. It was uncomfortable to watch but it seemed the Exiles had said "No more" and were willing to put in the immense effort to stop any further home scores.

It seemed to be doing the job, the half-time whistle was very welcome and, given the home domination of territory and possession, we were all amazed to go into the break only 6 points adrift.

The second half brought many changes, Naka for Flav, Beefy came on at some point, it may have been half-time it was difficult to follow from behind the posts with no away team announcments. Early play was balanced, the home side keen to get their moves going again and the Irish, in the knowledge that they could halt the wild attacks a little more confident. Both sides had opportunity to move forward and gain territory before being pegged-back and have to face a counter attack. In two separate occasions I disagreed (probably quite vehemently) with Mr Barnes the ref.

In both a Falcon caught a high-ball only to be surrounded, without any support, by 2/3 Irish. He was tackeld and somehow managed to hold onto the ball despite the efforts of the Exiles. Surely holding-on ? Apparently not, Irish pinged for coming in at the side. Walder continued his wayward kicking for the first but converted the second. Irritaingly Irish were playing better but were now 9 points down. Keiron Roache came on for a subdued Phil Murhpy (or Murray if you're a geordie announcer) and Barry, exhausted from his mammoth tackling efforts, was replaced by Tofty.

Mark Mapletoft spent the end of last season changing the way Irish played and this was reminiscent of his efforts then. His kicking from hand was still a little lacking but he replaced Barry's sturdy defence with a change of attack angles and pace. Newcastle had been tackled into submission and no longer looked so lively, Hugh Vyvian was injured and had to leave the field which took a great deal out the Falcon's abilities on the ground. All this with a renewed Irish attack saw the home team reel, suddenly all the play was in the Newcastle half (of course that was the far end of the pitch but we expect that). A patient attack by Irish saw the Falcons desparately killing the ball on the ground, finally Mr Barnes thought enough was enough and Yellow carded Britz.Irish, thankfully with one man over, kicked the penalty to touch but sadly knocked-on from the resultilg lineout. They wouldn't let Newcastle relieve the pressure easily and soon turned dthe ball back over. The Falcons were forced to defend on their own 5 yard line, Irish spun the ball out to Sackey in the centre channel again and he dived for the line. The refs hand went up, a try ? Unfortunatley the Newcastle defence had held him short and Paul was penalised for holding on.

Again Irish built the pressure, putting together phase after phase. Again Irish pushed Newcastle back to their left 5m line, getting good ball from the base of the ruck and spinning it out wide. Tofty made a break through the middle only to see the gap close but allowing him a further pass left to Neal Hately who charged through the resulting gap for a fine score. Nice one Beef, always good to see a running try from a forward. Tofty converted and suddenly there was a game afoot. 6 mintutes plus injuries still to go and Newcastle 15 - 13 LI.

Newcastle showed they weren't giving up by winning the restart and resorting to their excellent expansive passing game. It looked like they'd only been taking a breather and they easily pulled holes in the Irish line and spun the ball wide. When they were completely through and the try almost complete the final pass went slightly further in front than was comfortable, knock-on on the Irish 5m line and we could all breath again.

Irish seemed to gain the upper hand again and pressed forward, Newcastle forced to defend again. We were all watching Tofty putting himself into the pocket for a drop-goal but the Falcons prevented any such chances. As the Irish were approaching the Falcons 22 the home side, again, killed the ball in a ruck allowing Tofty a technically easy but nonetheless fraught kick for the lead.

We were into injury time and had a 1 point lead. Newcastle 15 - 16 LI.Supporters' thoughts turned to the Rec and our short-lived lead there. True to form we gave the ball away from the re-start but quickly recovered to hold the frantic Newcastle attack at bay. Again, and again the Falcons attacked, often looking like they would break through only to have a superb Irish tackle hold them fast. Again and again Irish cleared their lines to be told there was still more time to play. Slowly the mammoth Exiles' efforts pushed the home side back from their 22 to the halfway. It was an epic effort, a single penalty would have been heart-breaking. It wasn't until the Falcons had been pushed back into their owm half that Irish finally infringed. The kick was taken quickly and it was obvious that Mr Barnes had signalled the final play, Newcastle redoubled their efforts to stretch the Irish line and the Exiles desperately tried to hold their ground. The home team, spurting down the left finally dropped the ball in a tackle and the end of the game was called - it had been quite, quite draining... and that was just for the supporters.

Did we deserve the win ? Its a tough question, had Newcastle needed the result maybe they'd have tried harder (although its difficult to see how). Had Vyvian stayed on longer the home domination of the breakdown may have continued and our fight-back may never have started. Another well-worked Falcons try could easily have made Irish heads drop but a huge team effort from our lads prevented that from happeneing. On reflection it was a massive effort and Irish deserved to scrape through. We've lost so many close matches this season it was nice to finally win one. The team were obviously pleased to take the points as they came over to thank the travelling support (a good turn-out all things considered at around 50). They couldn't spend too long as the Falcons were keen to parade their hard-earned trophy to a fanatical home support. It was nice to see another group of supporters made-up by their teams earlier achievment.

All in all, it was a fine trip, Kingston Prk is a fantastic place, especially in the sunshine, the people of Newcastle are lovely in victory or defeat. Unfortunately JoeV and a visiting team from Maestag entertained the bar with songs. That'll smart much longer than the result I can tell you.

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