By Leipziger
April 2 2011

Today the Falcons visited Gloucester in a re-run of last month's LV= Cup Final, and the result was remarkably similar, though we scored two more points in losing only 9-34.

I'll get the rant out of the way first – referee Dean Richards' performance was one of the worst I have ever seen in 15 years of watching rugby, down there with Tim Wigglesworth v Sale in January and the Irish-speaking Frenchman in Paris.

Apparently it's now OK for [Gloucester] players to tackle others [Falcons] in the air and pull them down at lineouts. Second rows don't penalised for blocking near the tryline despite being so guilty they are still talking to the referee a minute later.

No Falcons fans were surprised in the slightest that Jonny May dropping the ball in his frog-splash was no reason not to award a try.

We'd still have lost mind.

Anyway, back to the players. Alan Tait made several changes after Saracens, bringing in Grant Shiells, Rob Vickers, Mark Wilson and Rob Vickerman alongside the returning Micky Young and Euan Murray.

Just wanted to point out, before he becomes the new Alex Tait, that Shiells was not shoved around at all today.

Tane Tu'ipulotu started on the wing for the first time in a black shirt opposite Rikki Sheriffe, who had a good game on only his second Premiership appearance.

The Falcons had an early chance with a flowing attack towards the left but Alex Tait seemingly refused to pass to Sheriffe and the threat passed, while a break by Jimmy Gopperth also came to nothing.

Gopperth missed a penalty and Freddie Burns was off target with two kicks for Gloucester. Winger Jonny May seemed to have opened the scoring on the right but while in the buildup Richards ignored two forward passes so obvious I could see them from behind the goal, apparently being in touch wasn't permissible. Just as well really, our defence showed no interest at all in tackling May.

Burns opened the scoring with a penalty before cutting through the middle to score the day's first try behind the posts, converting himself.

The Falcons were as ever not short of endeavour and our strong defence was rewarded by three penalties by Gopperth. With just a couple of minutes to go until half-time I went to the bar and watching the TV I saw us get a penalty at a scrum – excellent, winning at half-time! Unfortunately, the camera panned out to show that we were on our own 22. D'oh!

Never mind, the first half had gone OK, Newcastle hadn't attacked as much as we'd have liked but the defence had been solid and there was hope. Ye gods, how often have I said those words at half-time?

In the second half Burns extended Gloucester's lead to four points with a penalty, but the Falcons put together a spell of possession with a couple of penalties sent to the corner and some probing drives, notably from Shiells and Ally Hogg. It came to nothing though as we lost the ball.

From a ruck near the home tryline, Micky Young was poised to charge the Gloucester kicker but was blocked by Jim Hamilton's elbow, and they cleared. It probably wouldn't have mattered (what could he have done but charge the ball dead?) but Young required treatment and the referee failed to penalise the sheepish-looking and chatty Hamilton.

Incredibly but perhaps inevitably, Hamilton stole Rob Vickers' resulting throw.

Now Gloucester had survived our attack and returned to the Falcons' half. Around the hour Henry Trinder took a long pass on the far left and with the defence sucked infield scored a try converted by Tim Taylor, taking probably a win but not a losing bonus point our of our reach.

Ally Hogg then decided (I am told, I couldn't really see it) to mess with scrum-half Rory Lawson and got himself sin-binned for the same offence for the second successive match – I wonder what Tait said to him today?

Gloucester were in the ascendency now and May ran through on the right, so happy he decided to dive Joe Shaw-style over the line and dropped the ball before touching it down. Dean Richards must have been so impressed with the dive that he gave the score anyway, and although Taylor could have probably sent his conversion into the Shed and still have got the two points (OK, maybe not), he sportingly kicked it through the posts.

Gloucester's fourth try was of little interest to anyone with a black heart, for the record Rory Lawson scored it and Taylor converted.

So that is it for our four weeks on the road, and we go into Leeds at home on the back of two away Premiership games that promised little beforehand, then more at half-time, but then yielded nothing. Hopefully the injury James Hudson sustained in the second half today has cleared up or is at least not serious – we could do without losing our captain right now.

We now have to turn a little Tomahawk tomorrow afternoon and pray that Exeter do at Headingley what they did at Kingston Park i.e. win and leave the hosts with nothing. A Leeds win means that a defeat at KP a week today will leave us bottom.

The basic lessons of the past few games are that we need to control possession better, not waste what possession we do have by kicking and letting the opposition run back at us, and take our chances when they are presented. Keep defending for our lives. Oh, and in the name of all that is good - stop giving away stupid penalties, especially in good positions!!

There are some tough games ahead including the beast next weekend, and we are in trouble but we have an advantage over Leeds, we mustn't waste it. I'd much rather be in our position than Leeds'.

The survival battle is heating up.