Dave Walder followed the lead of his Newcastle team-mate Jonny Wilkinson by
booting a late drop-goal to clinch victory at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday.
Wilkinson famously held his nerve deep into injury time to kick England to
World Cup glory yesterday - and Walder followed suit for the Falcons by putting
his 81st-minute effort between the uprights to secure a dramatic Zurich
Premiership win away to London Irish.
The hosts appeared to be heading for victory themselves thanks to a fightback
led by Barry Everitt's flawless effort with the boot, but Newcastle never gave
up and were rewarded with their first league win on the road since February.
The Exiles, unbeaten at home this season, will feel disappointed to have
finished with just a losing bonus point for a brave performance, but Newcastle
just about deserved to take the honours.
The conditions were dreadful. But heavy rain did not dent the Falcons'
attacking ambition as they ran the ball as often as possible, and their
endeavour paid off in the sixth minute with a beautifully worked try.
A five-metre scrum saw the ball fed to Walder, who linked with Mark
Mayerhofler and took the return pass before setting up unmarked centre Jamie
Noon with a simple run-in.
Walder added the conversion and then slotted a tricky penalty as the Falcons
continued to press, mixing up play superbly to keep the Exiles pinned in their
own half for the majority of the first 30 minutes.
Michael Stephenson was proving a handful down the left wing, cutting inside on
one occasion to good effect before being hauled down with no support on his
shoulders.
With Scotland international Stuart Grimes back in the second row - his first
club start following a stint at the World Cup - Newcastle were winning plenty of
ball at the line-out, used to good effect by Walder.
Irish managed to claw their way back into the match with two long-range
Everitt penalties in quick succession, the visitors finishing the first half
with a flurry as the Falcons' discipline eroded.
They could not carry that form into the opening exchanges of the second half,
however, as Newcastle - obviously pumped up by coach Andrew Blades' interval
team talk - tore into their opponents.
A Walder penalty followed only for Everitt to go one better by adding two
three-pointers himself as the Falcons' challenge faded once again.
Irish squandered a fine opportunity when scrum-half Darren Edwards chose to go
it alone even though he had two players unmarked to his right. But the home team
could not be denied for long, Everitt splitting the uprights with a sweet
drop-goal.
The kick set up a nail-biting finale which saw Newcastle finish strongly,
Walder kicking a penalty and that injury-time drop-goal to end his side's away
jinx.
Teams:
London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Appleford, Mordt, Bishop, Everitt,
Edwards, Hatley, Drotske, Durant, Kennedy, Casey, Danaher,
Dawson, Murphy.
Not Used: Wheatley, Flavin, Burke, Gustard, Greenstock,
Barrett, Mapletoft.
Pens: Everitt 4.
Drop Goals: Everitt.
Newcastle: Gollings, May, Noon, Mayerhofler, Stephenson,
Walder, Charlton, Peel, Thompson, Ward, Archer, Grimes, Taione,
Britz, Vyvyan.
Not Used: Wilson, Hurter, Makin, Dunbar, Dowson, Grindal,
Godman.
Tries: Noon.
Cons: Walder.
Pens: Walder 3.
Drop Goals: Walder.
Att: 5,843
Ref: David Rose (RFU).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook