The semi-final
By Leipziger
March 10 2011
With Premiership survival not quite secured but the prospects boosted by wins over Leeds and Harlequins, the Falcons follow Quins back down the M1 today for an LV= Cup semi-final at the Stoop.
This is the Falcons’ 10th cup semi-final of the professional era, and so far we have three wins and six defeats. Four times we have lost in the last four of the Challenge Cup, including once against Friday’s opponents at Headingley on 22 April 2001, a special day for my dad as it pre-match in The Ark was the first time he ever bought me a pint.
In domestic tournaments, perhaps the tightest semi-final we’ve had was in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Cup (anyone remember that) in 1999. The game ended 27-27 at Bedford’s Goldington Road and the Falcons were all set for extra time, not having read the rules that said after 80 minutes the team scoring more tries went through. Bedford had scored three to our two.
Two weeks later came our first national cup semi since the game went pro. The Falcons travelled to Reading to take on Richmond without Marius Hurter, a cornerstone of the soon-to-be-deposed champions’ scrum, and lost Jonny Wilkinson to injury. However, Va’aiga Tuigamala (with two tries) and Rob Andrew inspired us to a 3-20 victory.
Two years later Sale came to Kingston Park looking to book their place at Twickenham, although the venue had been in doubt as the RFU had previously stipulated that the Tetley’s Bitter Cup semi-finals would be played at grounds holding at least 8,000. The capacity at KP at the time was 6,600. Rob Andrew was having none of it though and in what turned out to be Ross Beattie’s final match in his first spell in the North East he scored one of our tries in a 37-25 victory in front of a KP record crowd.
In March 2002 the Falcons, as cup holders, travelled to Northampton in the last four. With us having won four away games in the Premiership already that season, a feat only matched one other time since winning the league, hope was high for a second successive cup final. The Saints blew the Falcons away in the first half though and it was they who went on to meet London Irish at Twickenham.
Our last English cup semi-final, in 2004, should have been against Wasps, however in probably the biggest upset in the history of knockout rugby in England Pertemps Bees had gone to Adams Park in the quarter-finals and won. The Falcons did not repeat the Pests’ mistake though and trounced the first division Bees 53-3. Tries from Mark Mayerhofler (2), Dave Walder, Michael Stephenson, Stuart Grimes and Ben Gollings made our place at Twickenham secure, and the away side’s only score came from a penalty by Mark ‘sit on the toilet like Jonny’ Woodrow.
This is the sixth season since the national knockout cup ended in its previous form in 2005. In the previous five years, the Falcons have never managed to get out of the group stage, in fact in the last two seasons we lost seven successive matches, generally using the tournament to blood youngsters and give fringe players a run-out.
However, our win against Ospreys in November and the competition’s weird format that left us top of our group despite defeats at Harlequins and Bath meant that our win over Exeter at KP a month ago secured a last four spot.
Love the Anglo-Welsh Cup or hate it (and I’ve been heavily critical in the past), we are now potentially 80 minutes away from a cup final and 160 minutes away from a Heineken Cup place, with all the prestige that brings. With some pressure now eased in the Premiership, but Quins still looking for a playoff place and continuing to miss England’s Danny Care and Nick Easter, we have a golden chance to win at the Stoop for the first time in a decade and hopefully next week get back amongst Europe’s big boys.
Obviously we are missing Euan Murray but in Kieran Brookes we have an able replacement, and what better than the prospect of Heineken Cup rugby to secure the last big signature we need to keep the talented nucleus of our current squad together?
The Falcons are forced to move Alex Tait to full-back and bring in Gcobani Bobo and Danny Williams, the latter making only his second start of the season, while Brent Wilson continues in the back row.
15 Alex Tait
14 Danny Williams
13 Luke Eves
12 James Fitzpatrick
11 Gcobani Bobo
10 Jimmy Gopperth
9 Micky Young
1 Jon Golding
2 Matt Thompson
3 Euan Murray
4c James Hudson
5 Andrew Van der Heijden
6 Tim Swinson
7 Brent Wilson
8 Ally Hogg
16 Rob Vickers
17 Grant Shiells
18 Kieran Brookes
19 Filipo Levi
20 Mark Wilson
21 Hall Charlton
22 Tane Tu'ipulotu
23 Tom Catterick
Harlequins have had a slightly disruptive week with Joe Marler and captain Chris Robshaw being nicked by England for a few hours, but they are both in the side we will take on tomorrow night. Ugo Monye moves onto the wing with George Lowe fit again.
15 Mike Brown
14 Tom Williams
13 George Lowe
12 Jordan Turner Hall
11 Ugo Monye
10 Rory Clegg
9 Karl Dickson
1 Joe Marler
2 Matt Cairns
3 John Andress
4 Ollie Kohn
5 Pete Browne
6 Maurie Fa'asavalu
7 Will Skinner
8c Chris Robshaw
16 Joe Gray
17 Ceri Jones
18 Mark Lambert
19 Tomas Vallejos
20 Chris York
21 Dave Moore
22 Benjamin Urdapilleta
23 Gonzalo Camacho
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Just have to win the LV cup then.