By Leipziger
January 1 2005

As we say goodbye to 2004 and move into 2005, it is time to have a look back at the first half of the season and see how far in either direction we can be seen to have moved, after an anti-climatic league campaign but some exhilarating Heineken Cup games.

As usual, transfer speculation dominated most fans’ minds during the close season, after the departures of first team players Jon Dunbar, Hugh Vyvyan, Ben Gollings, Daryl Lilley, Nick Makin, Garath Archer and Mark Andrews.  Early rumours of young southern-hemisphere stars Rupeni Caucaubani and Radike Samo didn’t lead to their arrivals, rather Samo’s u-turn on a move left Rob Andrew and many fans feelings betrayed.  Ex-England hooker Andy Long and Samoa captain Semo ‘Sofa’ Sititi did join us, along with Connacht forward Mike McCarthy.  The real coups were still to come though – two proven world-class internationals in Wales captain Colin Charvis, and Australian World Cup-winner Matt Burke.

 

 

Optimism ran high, especially as the return of Jonny Wilkinson was being prophesised almost daily in the newspapers, until in the run-up to the Middlesex Sevens in August it was announced that our player of the year from 2003-04, Warren Britz, had accepted an offer to return to South Africa and play for Natal.  We went to the tournament though and after losing to Gloucester in the first round we beat Sale and Loughborough University to win the second-tier Plate competition, with Michael Stephenson and Mathew Tait scoring four and three tries respectively.

 

Next it was a two-match tour to the Republic of Ireland.  First up on the August 17 was a visit to the Galway Sportsground to play Connacht, when Jonny Wilkinson played his first match of 2004 as joint-captain with Ian Peel.  This experiment caused confusion amongst many fans, and I think most feel it has yet to have been proved successful.  Playing only the first half, Wilkinson scored our only points in the first period with a penalty, but two Andy Long tries helped us to a convincing 9-32 victory.

 

Six days later the lads took on perennial Heineken Cup challengers Munster at Thomond Park, where the small away support made themselves heard most successfully against 7,000 reds.  An early try from Mark Mayerhofler gave us a 6-7 half time lead which it seemed we would hold onto for a good win, but Maurice Lawler’s last minute score gave Munster the spoils 13-10.  We couldn’t be too upset though, as Wilkinson played a good hour and Mike McCarthy and Colin Charvis looked to be settling well in the back row.

 

 

Back to Kingston Park for our final pre-season friendly, a Saturday evening repeat of last season’s Powergen Cup semi-final against Pertemps Bees from Birmingham.  Publicised as Wilkinson’s comeback in Newcastle, the game attracted 4,503 fans, only around 400 less than had attended our Premiership home game v Bath 10 months earlier.  Five tries, including one from new boy Semo Sititi, all converted by Jonny, gave us a 46-17 win to set us up nicely for the start of the Premiership at Worcester the next weekend.

 

The pre-season had by all accounts gone well – a decent performance at Twickenham, two wins and a close defeat in Munster which could so easily have been a win.  Now, on our second visit to Sixways in the Midlands, we’d see how well.

 

 

September 5^th 2004 was a special day for Worcester Rugby Club, ten years in the waiting their Premiership ambitions had finally been realised.  A sell-out crowd of 8,300 turned up to see them take on our Falcons, though the Jonny factor must have helped.  Despite being overwhelming favourites, we went down 6-0 early on in this potential banana-skin game, but by half-time we’d turned the tables on Ben Gollings’ side to take a 6-16 lead.  The final score, after tries from Mark Mayerhofler, Stuart Grimes and a debut score from Mike McCarthy, was 9-30 to get our season of to the best possible start.

 

We were of course very happy to get off the mark with an away win in our first game, knowing our away record in the professional era, but that was tempered by the knowledge of an impending visit to Bath, where we’d lost seven times in a row.  For the third season in a row we helped sell out the Rec, but travelled more in hope than expectation.  Silly us.  By 4pm we’d scored four tries, including two from Tom May and another from McCarthy, had Phil Dowson sent off, and won a memorable game 18-33.

 

 

Two away wins in the first two games of the season – in 2003/04 we’d won that many from 11, in 2002/03 we only won once away from home.  Newcastle fans dared to dream of a much better league season than we’d had for years…

 

Next up was Kingston Park’s first Premiership match of the term, against relegation candidates Harlequins.  Whilst we didn’t show the spark of the previous two games, five Wilkinson penalties and a penalty try gave us a 22-21 win and took us to the summit of the Premiership.  A crowd of 8,706 was an excellent return for our first home game, especially as our sell-outs the previous season had been linked only to Wilkinson, and then playing Leicester.  The only real bad thing to come our of this game was Mayerhofler sustaining a broken leg after only 13 minutes, which would keep our defensive organiser out for two months.  But top of the league for the first time in a very long time…never mind a better season than for a while, could the Falcons become Champions?

 

While the following game didn’t prove or disprove than we could win the Premiership, it did serve as a reality check.  Then again, a lot of teams find that at Kingsholm.  13,000 fans saw us go down 31-17 after leaving Colin Charvis on the bench for the first half.  We began to think of a jinx to our inside centres when in the 23^rd minute, Mayerhofler’s replacement Joe Shaw had to be taken off for Mathew Tait, playing only his second Premiership match.  A week later in front of the Sky TV cameras a week later Matt Burke had to be replaced just before kick-off with Epi Taione and due to Grimes’ injury, McCarthy moved to lock and Ed Williamson made his Premiership debut at openside flanker.  Hardly the game to do it – v Leicester.

 

 

We managed two tries from Michael Stephenson and Mathew Tait, but Leicester replied with five to hand us a hammering 15-44, the most points we’d conceded in a league match since April 2001.  Former Falcon Martin Corry played an excellent match to stake his claim for an England place, but David Walder at full-back had a much less successful performance, fuelling speculation that since Wilkinson’s comeback has kept Walder away from fly-half, the Geordie might have been on his way out.

 

From the Devil to the deep blue sea – on October 10^th Newcastle travelled to High Wycombe to visit European Champions London Wasps, with Burke and Grimes restored to the starting lineup but still with Taione at centre.  After conceding an early try we were always playing catch up, but were in contention at 28-22 until Sititi was yellow-carded and the hosts pulled away.  Despite four tries from Jamie Noon, Taione, Stephenson and Charva, we lost 43-29.

 

 

This match also saw the start of real disgruntlement amongst a lot of our regular away supporters at the players’ lack of acknowledgement of the travelling fans, especially considering the distances most have to travel there and back in one day.  But not until November did it reach a much more serious note.

 

We managed to break the run of defeats the next weekend, when a last minute Jonny Wilkinson against Saracens at Kingston Park gave us a 20-20 draw.  Clearly we didn’t want to roll out the welcome mat too far on Hugh Vyvyan’s return north, but avoiding defeat is always good.  Noon missed this game and this meant our centre partnership was Burke and Taione, whilst our two best props Hurter and Peel were on the bench alongside May.  What could we read in this?  Perhaps that the club had one eye on the next game – our long awaited return to the Heineken Cup.

 

33 and a half months since our last European Cup match at Rodney Parade, we returned to Newport on October 23^rd to take on the Gwent Dragons.  As the game was a 1pm kick-off for Sky, the Supporters’ Club offered two trips, one starting the Friday evening with a Midlands stopover, and one doing the whole hog on the Saturday morning.  Whatever option you chose, for every Falcon there or indeed watching at home, it was a game none of us will ever forget.

 

 

Unfortunately we had to start the pool stage without Jonny Wilkinson, who had dominated the week’s rugby pages after suffering a bruised bicep against Saracens, and Walder was restored to fly-half.  The inexperienced Tait made only his third start in the centre, but the real worry came in the front row.  Matt Thompson was still not match fit after injury, and Long was injured, meaning James Isaacson hooked between Ian Peel and Micky Ward.  Ceri Sweeney and Burke scored a penalty each early on, before Mike McCarthy charged down a kick on the tryline from Kevin Morgan and touched down for the only try of the match, which Burke converted.  Sweeney’s second penalty left us 6-10 ahead at half time, but whilst we had our backs to the wall in the second half, we were hit hard when Luke Gross received red card from throwing his knee in Ian Gough’s face.

 

Gwent threw everything they had at us, but our defence, in a game where we saw the full benefit Matt Burke has brought, erected Hadrian’s Wall and heroically beat the Welsh away.  With every Falcon in the ground screaming for our boys, and Local Hero David Walder playing a superb tactical game, we finally triumphed 6-10 and the players and fans alike celebrated an unforgettable win together.  This was what sport is really about, and for a few minutes, all the early season optimism of victories and desperation of defeats was forgotten in pure joy and togetherness.  We knew the players had given everything.  The players knew we had given everything too and that if we hadn’t been screaming so loud at their end, then they might not have been able to dig deep enough to win.  One of the best games the club’s ever played.

 

But life goes on.  A week later we welcomed Perpignan, expecting a much tougher game than they gave us in our 60-3 win over the Catalans seven years earlier.  Tait scored our only try, converted by Burke, and four penalties (3 from Burke, 1 Walder) secured a second successive European win by a tight 19-14 margin.  They’re all tight these days.

 

 

After another superb defensive performance, and with two matches coming up in December against Edinburgh, supposedly the pool’s weakest team, we were optimistic that we could actually get into the European quarter-finals.

 

Sadly, our joy was cooled by the news that popular flanker Andrew Mower had finally decided to call time on his rugby career, admitting defeat in his year-long battle against a broken leg suffered in the World Cup.  Suspicion had been raised by the recent signing of Kiwi openside Cory Harris from Bridgend, who made his debut at Sale on Guy Fawkes’ Night, but everyone was sorry to see Mower go.  We all wish him well.

 

Before the next Heineken games we had another Friday night trip to Stockport to play Sale, and despite a spirited performance for the first hour, three tries from May (2) and Stephenson weren’t enough to give us the points as the Sharks ran in five of their own, Charlie Hodgson downing twice to add to his four conversions and two penalties for a personal haul of 24.

 

 

The final score was 39-25, but the match will be remembered for the fact that many Falcons missed the start of the game due to the Edgeley Park staff not opening enough turnstiles to cope with a sell-out crowd.  But on the field, the plain truth was we were now five league games without a win.

 

One of our, to be honest, less inspiring games of the season followed, the ‘derby’ against Leeds at Kingston Park.  We had, and at the start of 2005 still have, an excellent record against the Tykes, and kept it up with a 29-16 victory, assisted by a Matt Burke hat-trick and another try from Jamie Noon, despite being without Stuart Grimes, Colin Charvis and Hall Charlton on international duty, the latter merely warming the England bench the previous day at Twickenham.

 

 

In front of a mere 6,020 fans (still, in 1995 who could’ve envisioned that?), we had stopped the league rot, and looked forward to another trip south, with renewed confidence, to another ground where we’d won a few times in the past, London Irish’s Madejski Stadium in Reading.

 

We took an early lead in Reading with a try from Walder, and another from Phil Dowson just before half time, and in the second half weathered the Irish onslaught to hold out until injury time, in no small part due to Mayerhofler’s return from injury in the 59^th minute, but Paul Hodgson’s try gave the Irish a 21-15 win, and in a game which promised so much we had to be content with one point.

 

 

Dejected, the travelling fans waited 15 minutes for our lads to return to the field and applaud us, and receive our thanks too.  Finally, we were asked to leave our seats by the stewards.  Thus followed a lot of angriness from fans, who sadly were not completely united on the issue, and letters to the club which were not answered until 2 weeks later.  For the real answer however, we’d have to wait for December 11^th in Edinburgh.

 

But before European combat recommenced, Mark and his Saints came north looking to climb off the bottom of the Premiership.  Fortunately (as they were playing us!) we overcame John Clarke’s try, the only one of the match, and a 12-13 half time deficit, to triumph 27-16 through five penalties from Burke, a drop goal from May and 2 from Walder, and a penalty from our fly-half.  This game marked Jamie Noon’s first as captain due to the absence of Peel and Wilkinson, and he had an excellent game to further show his England credentials.

 

 

Eleven Premiership games had been played, half the season, and we were stuck in mid-table, almost safe from relegation but with little chance of getting into the top 3.  However, many fans seemed content to overlook this fact as we welcomed Grimes and Charvis back from their countries and Edinburgh to Kingston Park as the European Cup came back to the forefront of affairs.

 

Whilst we knew it wouldn’t be easy by any means, few Falcons contemplated anything other than two wins over the Scots, and nobody expected a defeat at Kingston Park.  But until the second half, this was more than possible, as we went into the break 13-16 down, and only three second half tries saw us crash home 34-24.  The bonus point might turn out to be vital too (tries scored by Burke, May, Noon and Stephenson), but at half time we just wanted the four for the win.

 

 

Six days later around 500 Falcons made their way north to the Scottish capital to see the return leg at the ghost town which was Murrayfield, only 4,326 taking in the game.  With Noon at the helm, again our opponents led at half time 7-3 until Jonny Wilkinson returned from injury, replacing Walder at half time, and changed the game.  After knocking over a penalty, he set up a movement over towards the left hand side, and after Burke kicked through a gap in the defence, Michael Stephenson was able to touch down in the corner to put us a point ahead, and Wilkinson’s conversion gave us a 10-13 lead heading into injury time.  Sterling defence and Edinburgh’s refusal to kick for goal and accept a draw kept us ahead until the referee finally blew for full time.  The win meant we will travel to Perpignan in January knowing one win from the remaining two games will see us through to the quarter-finals as pool winners.  As for the players, they came to us travelling fans, who had not only outshouted and outsung the Edinburgher the whole evening, but we had never let our voices slip, afterwards and celebrated a great win.  Nice reply guys.

 

 

During the next week the club was rocked by the news that Marius Hurter would return to South Africa to play out his career with Transvaal in the New Year, leaving us short on props.  Tributes flooded in for the big man who gave us six years of his career and his life.

 

 

Next up was a visit to Saracens to begin the defence of the Powergen Cup we had won in April, with Jonny Wilkinson still confined to the replacements’ bench.  A try from Grimes was all we could muster in the first half, and the Fez Boyz led 17-5 at the break.  In the second period however we made a comeback and could have forced extra time if Wilkinson had converted Stephenson’s late try (Tait had already crossed too), but as well as a couple of drop goal attempts he missed the target and we were knocked out 22-20.  Our defence of the cup was over before it started, but we have bigger fish to fry this year.

 

 

For the last game of 2004 we made the quick journey to Headingley this past Monday for the return match against Leeds.  After losing Matt Burke and Epi Taione early on, we led 8-12 at half time through a penalty from Walder and three from substitute Wilkinson.  Mark Regan scored a try for the hosts.  In the second half, in front of a Tykes record 14,293, a penalty from Ross was cancelled out with a drop goal from Wilkinson and we held on for a third away win of the season, and leave us in sixth place in the Premiership going into the New Year.

 

 

Afterwards the Supporters’ Club made a presentation to Marius Hurter in thanks for his service and, again, we were able to celebrate with the players before they left the pitch.  Hopefully this time next year this mutual appreciation won’t be so worthy of mention, and will be expected rather than hoped for.

 

So far we have had a very mixed season.  In between going out of the English Cup before our defence had hardly begun, and winning the first four games in our European Cup pool, we are stuck in mid-table obscurity in the Premiership.  It looks increasingly likely that we won’t be trying to win the European Cup for its own sake, but also to get back into the tournament next year.

 

This said, after the disappointment of losing so many players in the summer, and Andrew Mower’s retirement, we can be happy at how well Matt Burke, Colin Charvis and Mike McCarthy have settled in, especially the latter considering he was expected to be mostly a bit player this season, even after Warren Britz’s departure.  The continuing development of Mathew Tait and Phil Dowson has also been good to see, and Michael Stephenson has had another excellent few months.  Unfortunately we are still to see Jonny Wilkinson back on top form, even in September and early October, but after a long period out that will take time.

 

 

Another major plus though is that our attendance figures have been quite high this year, except for a little lull around the clock change against Perpignan and Leeds.  Other than that, we’ve had regular numbers of 7-8,000, meaning the club are heading for a more stable financial position.

 

What can we look forward to in 2005?  If our next European game were Gwent at home I’d have no doubt that we would qualify for the quarter-finals.  However, we still have every chance of getting through and once there, anything can happen, it all depends on who we play, where, and which side of us turns up on the day.  In the league, I feel that if we can find some consistency then we can push for the top 4 or 5.  The sad truth is though that it is more likely we will continue to hammer someone one week then unexpectedly lose the next, especially whilst our cup ambitions continue.  This is on the evidence of this season so far.