Newcastle squeezed into the quarter-finals of the Tetley's Bitter Cup with a
hard-earned victory against a spirited Bristol side at Kingston Park.
The Falcons were made to work all the way for the win which gives them another
home tie against London Irish in the next round.
Steven Vile scored all the visitors' points with three penalties, a conversion
and a try but some excellent kicking from England's Jonny Wilkinson and two late
tries from scrum-half Gary Armstrong and flanker Andrew Mower ensured Newcastle
progressed.
Bristol were without their Argentinian trio of Agustin Pichot, Felipe
Contepomi and Eduardo Simone, who were all on international duty, while the
Falcons were without the Scottish threesome of John Leslie, George Graham and
Stuart Grimes.
In a scrappy opening period, the home side went ahead thanks to Wilkinson's
ninth-minute penalty.
Falcons' centre Tom May was stopped in his tracks by an excellent tackle from
Leigh Davies, but in the ensuing ruck, the visitors were caught offside and
Wilkinson stroked over the resulting kick.
A minute later, Vile missed a chance to level the score when his long penalty,
after a Newcastle offside, dropped just under the posts and Wilkinson made him
rue that miss by adding another penalty soon after.
But, Bristol hit back straight away when they were eventually awarded a
penalty after an excellent move featuring Lee Best and Dean Dewdney.
Newcastle had dominated the first period but it was the visitors who finished
the half strongly and they moved ahead on the stroke of half-time thanks to
Vile's try.
After a spell of concerted pressure, Bristol won a scrum five yards from the
Newcastle posts. The ball was moved along the back line before Vile finally
touched down in the far corner and then converted to give his side a 10-6
advantage.
Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew introduced Va'aiga Tuigamala for the
second half in place of the largely ineffective Tongan Epi Taione.
And Tuigamala was soon in the thick of the action as he flattened Bristol
full-back Best, but was ruled offside. Vile duly converted the penalty to
increase his side's lead, but Wilkinson replied with two penalties in the space
of three minutes - the second from inside his own half - to leave the tie
finely balanced with 30 minutes remaining.
Newcastle's Tom May then denied Luke Nabaro a certain try with a superb
last-ditch tackle before Vile missed a penalty that was well within his range.
Wilkinson had no such trouble with a 66th-minute penalty from a similar
distance to put his side back in the lead, but Vile restored Bristol's one-point
advantage almost immediately with another penalty that was controversially
awarded for offside and produced howls of derision from the home crowd.
But, there were no complaints from the Kingston Park spectators moments later
when Wilkinson added another three points with an excellent conversion from
close to the touchline.
And Armstrong wrapped up a hard-fought victory for Newcastle with five minutes
left when he dummied a pass from a line-out and ran unchallenged around the
blind side to touch down. Wilkinson added the conversion to give his side a
nine-point cushion which left Bristol with too much to do.
Mower also touched over in stoppage time, latching onto Armstrong's pass, and
Wilkinson finished a faultless performance by successfully converting.
Teams
Newcastle: Stephenson, Botham, Noon, May, Taione, Wilkinson,
Armstrong, Ward, Howe, Hurter, Vyvyan, Weir, Jenner, Mower, Beattie.
Replacements: Tuigamala for Taione (44), Peel for Ward (54),
Balshen for Howe (41), Devonshire for Jenner (65).
Not Used: Charlton, Cook, Rule.
Tries: Armstrong, Mower.
Cons: Wilkinson 2.
Pens: Wilkinson 6.
Bristol: Best, Rees, Nabaro, Davies, Dewdney,
Vile, Baber,Johnstone, McCarthy, Fullman, Archer, A. Brown, C. Short,
Vander, Sturnham.
Replacements: Gerrard for Johnstone (54),
Sheridan for Archer (71), Salter for C. Short (54).
Not Used: Nelson, Blake, Marsden, Reeves.
Tries: Vile.
Cons: Vile.
Pens: Vile 3.
Att: 3,251
Ref: Ashley Rowden (Berkshire (RFU)).
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