The Newcastle Double-Header

This Sunday sees us take on Overmach Parma for the second time in nine days, with the Italians from the city which nobody at my office can ever put completely out of their heads travelling to the North East looking to avenge our 14-20 win in the booted country on Saturday.

I used to think it was weird playing a team twice in such quick succession, but it seems par for the course now, as we have seen a number of interesting head-to-heads in Europe down the years.

The first time we saw such a head-to-head in Europe was way back in December 1999, against Welsh side Dunvant in what was then the European Shield, and a win in Wales was followed up by a 51-10 trouncing at Kingston Park.  The latter game was memorable mainly because it was damn cold and I believe (don’t quote me on this) it was the game when the sponsor gave Jonny Wilkinson man of the match, but on being informed the future World Cup winner was not playing, said to give it to whoever was playing his position – Dave Walder.

A year later, and a restructured season because of the Lions tour at the end of it saw four European games in October, and our middle pairing was with Begles-Bordeaux of France, who caused us little trouble in either leg.

Then came the big one – Toulouse in the Heineken Cup in 2001.  Those who attended the away match, which the French side won easily against a Falcons side shorn of a number of stars, talk of a frightening experience outside of the stadium afterwards.  But a week later came one of those games that should but is probably not talked about as often as it should be.

The French champions came to Newcastle to face a team which had lost its first three games in the Heineken Cup, but a storming performance by Epi Taione and the Falcons in general saw us record an incredible 42-9.  It was a great game, and one of the many reasons I remember it is because I almost missed it – I only decided to go two days before!  What a good decision.

In 2002/03 and 2003/04 the Challenge Cup, as it was now known, was a knock-out competition with two-legged ties until the final, and doesn’t really count.  Besides, I’m sure some are still bitter that in the second season they didn’t get a European quarter-final on their season tickets but, due to defeat in Montferrand, a pre-season friendly against Pertemps Bees.

There were over 4,000 at that friendly.  Wilkinson’s return from injury probably had a lot to do with that, but we are lucky to get much more than 5,000 for a competitive game these days.

Back to the Heineken Cup in December 2004, and the kind-of legendary double-header with Edinburgh.  Matthew Burke inspired the Falcons to a 34-24 win over the Gunners at KP after the visitors put up some stern resistance.  I remember sitting in my ex-wife’s office in deepest Somerset that day, trying in vain to get the internet commentary to work but having to settle for the Sky Sports latest score page – which as with most rugby sites only updates after 20 minutes, ten minutes late, i.e. when it’s the 70^th minute it will update from the half time score to the score after 60 minutes.  Darn tense.

But not as much as the trip to Murrayfield a week later.  In front of just over 4,000 people packed (OK, rattling) in the lower tier on the side of the ground without a 100m running track, the legend that is Marius Hurter was sin-binned on one of his last games for us.  Jonny Wilkinson changed the game at half-time, and Michael Stephenson’s last-minute try snuck us home 10-13, setting us up for a charge to the quarter-finals in the new year.

Unfortunately, we all remember how that turned out, but they were heavenly days.  When will we see their like again? 

Lots of Challenge Cup in Part 2 tomorrow, for those who can be bothered to read any more.