Powergen Cup holders London Irish scored two tries in injury time to snatch a
17-16 win at Newcastle after looking dead-and-buried at half-time.
The Falcons seemed to have this sixth-round tie under control, but lost their
way in the closing quarter as the Exiles dominated possession and scored twice
through Neal Hatley and Simon Halford.
Halford's try left Mark Mapletoft with a 35-metre conversion to win the game -
and the substitute fly-half, on for Barry Everitt, who had missed four kicks at
goal, booted the winning score.
Falcons' new signing Mark Mayerholfer made an immediate impact with a
crunching tackle after London Irish had produced a fast start to turn over the
ball in front of the posts, and then produced a rifling left foot kick to get
Newcastle into the opposition half for the first time.
However, the first real scoring chance fell to Everitt with a drop-goal effort
which flew wide in the eighth minute.
Mayerholfer's influence was evident again with two inch-perfect passes as
Newcastle swept into the attack and it led to a penalty for offside which Liam
Botham kicked in the 14th minute and he added another five minutes later when
London Irish were over the ball inside their 22.
Newcastle wasted a gilt-edged chance with a powerful forward drive right up to
the line, but instead of keeping it tight they tried to move it wide and lost
control.
London Irish seized on a knock-on and swept away and it needed some good cover
tackling to stop the move on the Falcons 22.
Newcastle brought on Craig Newby in the 32nd minute for the injured Stuart
Grimes. And with his first touch of the ball, he slipped an inside pass for Tom
May to score under the posts and Botham's conversion gave the home side a 13-0
lead.
Right on half time, a powerful drive by London Irish ended with Rob Hardwick
being surged over for a try to cut the deficit to 13-5.
Newcastle found themselves under the cosh at the start of the second half, but
Everitt missed another kick at goal, his fourth, in the 54th minute and it
proved costly.
Newcastle drove upfield and forced a penalty which Botham kicked on 59
minutes.
Two great tackles by Jamie Noon on Declan Danaher and then Hall Charlton on
Halford in the corner prevented a certain try as London Irish pressed and
Newcastle were struggling in the line-out where they lost five of their own
throws.
And right on 80 minutes, Newcastle held on in midfield instead of kicking and
from the line-out in the corner, prop Neal Hatley was driven over for a try to
pull the score back to 16-10.
Then in injury time Halford was driven over for a try and Mapletoft kicked
conversion for a 17-16 win in the fourth minute of extra play.
Teams:
Newcastle: Noon, Botham, May,
Mayerhofler, Shaw, Godman,
Charlton, Peel, Makin, Hurter, Hamilton, Grimes, Taione,
Dowson, Vyvyan.
Not Used: Grindal, M. Wilkinson, Christian, Newby, Ward,
Isaacson, Otuvaka.
Tries: May.
Cons: Botham.
Pens: Botham 3.
London Irish: Horak, Bishop,
Burrows, Venter, Sackey, Everitt,
Edwards, Worsley, Drotske, Hardwick, Strudwick, Kennedy,
Gustard, Danaher, Sheasby.
Not Used: Martens, Mapletoft, Dawson, Kirke, Delaney, Hatley,
Halford.
Tries: Worsley, Hatley, Halford.
Cons: Mapletoft.
Att: 2,636
Ref: Steve Leyshon (RFU).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook