Newcastle Falcons plunged further into the relegation danger zone on Sunday
after a 20-0 defeat by fellow Premiership strugglers London Irish.
Rob Andrews' side have now conceded 10 league defeats this season and head
into the new year firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with only 16 points.
London Irish, meanwhile, have a little more to cheer about, as victory moves
them six points clear of the bottom of the pile, though director of rugby Conor
O'Shea will still be looking for a significant improvement in 2003.
Neither side started well and, after missing two early penalties that could
have handed London Irish an important six-point advantage, Barry Everitt managed
to make amends with the first score of the afternoon after 36 minutes.
Newcastle made a costly error in a defensive line-out when hooker James
Christian threw the ball long, to the surprise of his team-mates.
London Irish capitalised and earned themselves a scrum. Scrum-half Darren
Edwards cleared Everitt, who chipped ahead and grounded the ball under the
posts. This time the Irishman made no mistake, landing the conversion.
Immediately after the restart, another Falcons error led to an Irish score.
This time it was the turn of centre Nick Burrows, who charged down new signing
Mark Mayerhofler's clearance kick to score. Everitt missed the conversion.
The number 10 then added his first successful penalty of the afternoon before
winger Paul Sackey wrapped up proceedings with an 86th minute try, to hand
London Irish three wins out of three over the Falcons this season.
Teams:
London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Burrows, Cannon, Bishop, Everitt,
Edwards, Worsley, Drotske, Halford, Strudwick, Kennedy,
Gustard, Danaher, Sheasby.
Replacements: Martens, Mapletoft, Dawson, Kirke, Delaney, Hatley,
Hardwick.
Tries: Everitt, Burrows, Sackey.
Cons: Everitt.
Pens: Everitt.
Newcastle: Noon, Shaw, May, Mayerhofler, Botham, M. Wilkinson,
Charlton, Peel, Christian, Hurter, Vyvyan, Grimes, Dunbar,
Mower, Newby.
Replacements: Grindal, Godman, Stephenson, Makin, Hamilton, Ward,
Taione.
Att: 10,877
Ref: Tony Spreadbury (RFU).
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