Toil in the sticks

Newcastle's development side endured a tough battle against Tynedale in the picturesque setting of Corbridge yesterday, but like the first team on Friday night emerged victorious. Boasting a number of former Falcons, the hosts put in a strong performance and threatened to nick the win at the end but finally ran out of time.

Chris Micklewood and Will Welch were the best-known names in the Falcons' side, and started alongside young props Grant Shiells and Kieran Brookes, while Johnny Williams was an easily-recognisable face in the home team who also started with Harry Peck at scrum-half opposite fellow-trialist Chris Pilgrim in the black number nine shirt.  Greg Irvin, a one appearance-wonder for us, captained Tynedale from number eight.

The Falcons dominated possession early on, with Micklewood pulling the strings both with his hands and the boot, although Tynedale were clearly up for the game and put in some crunching tackles.  The deadlock was broken after 11 minutes when Shaun McCartney took a high ball near halfway, and Charlie Ingall moved right to set up Sep Visser in the corner, and as he ran through the in-goal area under the posts Micklewood had an easy conversion.

On Tynedale's first attack the speedy right-winger Peter Cole almost broke through our defence but was stopped by a try-saving tackle by Joel Hodgson, however they won a scrum and Johnny Williams was eventually driven over.  Gavin Beasley, a one-game Falcon fly-half, converted, but the Falcons were soon back in the lead thanks to Michael Ellery outrunning the home defence for an unconverted score on the half hour.

As the referee seemed intent on playing the full 80 minutes in one go, the first half went on and on and in injury time (?) the Falcons almost scored again on the right, and some scrappy exchanges of possession eventually led to Tynedale clearing to keep the score at 7-12 at half time.

In the second half the wind was now with Tynedale but it was the Falcons who drew first blood after the break as replacement Ashley Smith ran in from the 22 unopposed for the third try, Micklewood kicking the conversion again, however that was the last action those of us standing by the Tynedale half saw for a while.

Tynedale's combative approach saw them dominate throughout the second half, and even when the Falcons broke upfield, a pass to captain Mark Wilson almost on halfway went forward, allowing the home side back on the attack, although the Newcastle defence stood as firm as the first team's had the previous night.

Despite being under pressure territorially, the Falcons did have chances, notably a fast attack from a penalty lineout until Micklewood knocked on, but with three minutes to go the result looked safe as replacement Mike Woodhouse went on a charging run on the right, and as the ball went loose and Tynedale struggled to claim possession, Andrew Archibald gathered to make the score 7-24.

In the several minutes of injury time, the Falcons won a few scrums in our 22 but when Tynedale received a free kick it was quickly moved to winger Alan Gray, who scored a converted try on the left.

With renewed enthusiasm, Tynedale won a succession of penalties and ensured a nervous last few minutes when Sep Visser, now wearing blue and white, went through under the posts.  However, with the scoreline now reading 21-24, there was not enough time for our Division One hosts to sneak the win their performance had probably deserved.

I'd never been to a match at Tynedale before, and in what is essentially a field with a stand on one side and a clubhouse at one end it was strange to think that Gosforth, the predecessor to our Falcons, used to regularly visit there for first team matches as little as 20 years ago.  But while I believe rugby has stuck to its roots better than football has, even though we have only had 14 years of professionalism, it was still nice to go to a smaller ground and be reminded that there is life beyond the Premiership and its larger grounds and glitzier play, but high beer prices and occasional scandals.

It was also good to see Chris Micklewood continuing the decent form he has shown in the last few weeks.  I'm one of a few who think he could end up being a very shrewd signing.